A former correctional officer in Fresno County received a sentence Tuesday of two years probation and seven months behind bars for having sex with an inmate.
“Tina Gonzalez, 26, who worked as a correctional officer from 2016 to 2019, was arrested on May 1 last year after an investigation by the Sheriff’s Office’s vice unit and the department’s internal affairs division,” the Fresno Bee reported.
The investigation began after officials received a tip about a male inmate being given a cell phone and having sex with an officer. The article read:
Gonzalez pleaded no contest in April to one count of sexual activity by a detention facility employee with a consenting confined adult, one count of possession of drugs or an alcoholic beverage in a jail facility and a misdemeanor count of possession of cellular device with intent to deliver to an inmate.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office shared a photo of Gonzalez:
She did face up to three years and eight months in prison but avoided prison time despite criticism from her former boss, Assistant Sheriff Steve McComas.
According to McComas, Gonzales also supplied the inmate with razors that could be a potential weapon and gave him inside information regarding when officers would inspect his cell.
She also allegedly cut a hole in her uniform to make sex easier with the inmate and McComas also accused her of having sex in the jail in full view of 11 other inmates.
“That is something only a depraved mind can come up with,” he stated.
“She took an oath which she betrayed and in doing so endangered her coworkers’ lives,” the assistant sheriff noted. “But she has shown no remorse. She continually calls and has sexually explicit conversations with the inmate in question and boasts about the crimes she carried out.”