SANTA ANA, Calif.—A 25-year-old man was convicted Dec. 5 of attempting to sexually assault a woman cleaning offices in Irvine after hours.
Eduardo Godoy Gonzalez attacked the victim about 1:30 a.m. Feb. 6, 2019, in an office building at 17877 Von Karman, prosecutors said in a trial brief.
According to prosecutors, the victim, who was working as a janitor, was confronted by Gonzalez, who was carrying a skateboard, who asked her in Spanish, “Only you here?”
The victim “did not know how to respond so she asked if he worked there,” prosecutors said.
Gonzalez responded, “I have condoms, take off your clothes,” prosecutors said. He also offered to pay the woman for sex, prosecutors added.
The victim rebuffed him and said she had children, prompting him to pull out the fake gun and point it at her, prosecutors said. The woman pleaded with him not to kill her because she was a mother, prosecutors said.
Gonzalez told her, “I don’t care, I’m going to kill you,” prosecutors said.
Gonzalez grabbed her by the neck and at gunpoint pushed her about 20 feet into a conference room, where the two struggled for several minutes, prosecutors said. While the victim hollered for help to get the attention of her supervisor, Gonzalez tumbled over an ottoman and dropped the gun, allowing the woman to run for help in the next-door office building, prosecutors said.
Video surveillance caught the suspect bump into a glass door of the building, so they had it tested for DNA, prosecutors said. After police put out public calls for help identifying the suspect, Gonzalez’s manager at the Sprouts grocery store in Tustin called investigators and identified him as the culprit, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors allege that on Jan. 13, 2019, Gonzalez harassed another woman, offering to pay a woman so he could perform a sex act on her, prosecutors said.
The woman said she was frightened and rebuffed him, but when Gonzalez persisted she “changed tactics” and asked him to walk with her until she got to a busy intersection and then exchanged phone numbers with him, prosecutors said. He told her he worked at a grocery store, prosecutors said.
Gonzalez was convicted of kidnapping to commit a sex offense, assault with the intent to commit a sex offense, criminal threats and burglary, all felonies, and a misdemeanor count of brandishing a replica gun.
Gonzalez was scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 27.
