Crime Victim Blog

Former Torrington HS Football Player Gets 6 Years In Sex Assault

LITCHFIELD ——

Edgar Gonzalez, one of two former Torrington High football players accused of sexually assaulting 13-year-old girls, was sentenced to six years in prison Friday.

The other former player, Joan Toribio, will be sentenced to 10 years, suspended after 9 months, and 10 years of probation for second-degree sexual assault, according to an agreement with prosecutors.

Gonzalez was also sentenced to 10 years parole and must register as a sex offender for 10 years. Toribio will not have to register as a sex offender. Gonzalez pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault in June.

Prosecutor Terri Sonnemann noted that Gonzalez was out on bail for a 2012 robbery charge at the time of the assault. She described how the 13-year-old victim suffered physical injuries in the encounter and how Gonzalez poured alcohol down her throat and had intercourse with the girl.

“The night took a horrific turn for this young woman,” Sonnemann said. “The encounter was rough. She suffered injuries. … This was not something this girl wanted. It was not something she sought out. … this was not by any stretch of the imagination a consensual experience for this girl.”

The girls’ parents attended and addressed the court, telling the judge that the incident changed her forever.

“He raped her,” the girl’s mother said. “She said no. Let me repeat that. She said no. He didn’t care.”

Toribio and Gonzalez were accused of sexually assaulting different 13-year-old girls on the same night in February.

Toribio’s attorney, Charles Brower, argued that what happened on Feb. 10 was not indicative of Toribio’s character.

“This is an isolated incident,” Brower said.

Toribio obtained his high school diploma and is “college material,” Brower said.

Making him register as a sex offender would hamper his ability to attend college, Brower said. The law allows exemptions to the registration requirement if the defendant is under 19 and is not viewed as a threat to public safety.

Sonnemann did not disagree with Brower.

Toribio is to be sentenced Nov. 15.

The case drew widespread attention because some friends of Gonzalez taunted the victim on social media.

Arrest warrants described a night of drinking, marijuana smoking and, ultimately, sexual contact between the high school athletes and the girls.

One of the girls was sleeping over at the other’s house. About 3 a.m. on Feb. 10, she would later tell police, they sneaked out of the house and went to Toribio’s family’s apartment. Gonzalez was there with Toribio, according to the warrant, and Toribio’s mother was asleep at the time.

Gonzalez and Toribio admitted to Torrington Det. Kevin Tieman, in separate interviews, that they had sex with the girls and that they now know it was wrong, the warrant says. They insisted the sexual contact was consensual, but they were charged with second-degree sexual assault because, under Connecticut law, a 13-year-old girl cannot consent to sexual contact.

One of the 13-year-olds, according to the arrest warrant, said she told Gonzalez “no,” but he insisted and had intercourse with her. She also said she smoked marijuana and drank vodka with Gonzalez. She said that she felt “fuzzy” from the alcohol at the time of the encounter.

The girl also told police Gonzalez told her she needed a shot of alcohol, and he pulled her head back and poured it into her mouth, the warrant states.

The girl told a forensic interviewer at Torrington’s Center for Youth and Families that at one point during the sexual contact, Gonzalez held her arm behind her back. The girl said “that she verbally told Gonzalez that she did not want to have sex, but as a result of the marijuana, alcohol and ‘entire situation,’ vaginal sex just happened anyway,” according to the arrest warrant.

Gonzalez told the detective that, at one point, the girl said, “I don’t know. … I don’t want to do this,” and they stopped, according to the warrant.

The second girl said she did not smoke marijuana or drink vodka. She was reluctant to talk to police about what happened and at one point said, “I ruined his life,” the warrant states.

Police learned of the incident after one of the girls’ relatives told one girl’s mother about what had happened. The mother then contacted police.

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