Plea Deal Ends Unresolved Issues In Trial Of Camarillo Man Convicted Of Crimes Against Girl And Two Elderly Women

Tuesday August 27, 2024

     Update--A Camarillo man is headed directly to sentencing after a plea deal ended any unresolved issues in his trial regarding of crimes against a little girl and two elderly women.

     In July, a jury found 28-year-old Joel Gonzales guilty of the attempted murder of a 6-year-old girl that he tried to strangle in October of 2020.

     They also found him guilty of the sexually-related assault of an elderly woman in the assisted living facility in Camarillo where he had worked as a caretaker around the same time.

     But they failed to reach verdicts on three other charges including a sexually-related crime involving a second elderly woman in that same facility.

     So the judge declared a mistrial on those three counts and ordered a new trial with a new jury on those unresolved issues plus the question of whether Gonzales was sane at the time of the crimes.

     But Tuesday's plea deal involved Gonzales pleading guilty to the sexually-related crime involving the second elderly victim plus his admission regarding several other unresolved special allegations.

     And the sanity issue was withdrawn.

     That paves the way for Gonzales to be sentenced on September 25th.

     He is facing 16 years and 8 months in prison.