Former Pomona Councilman Sentenced in Child Porn Case
- By Matt Jones
- March 01, 2021
Last week, an ex-Pomona city councilman was sentenced after pleading no contest to one felony charge of possession of child sexual abuse material and one misdemeanor charge of annoying or molesting a child. Rubio Gonzalez, 45, faces three years of probation (two years of felony probation and one year of summary probation) and a minimum of one year of counseling. Gonzalez is also required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
The former city councilman, who also worked as a substitute teacher, was arrested in May 2020. He was accused of “taking inappropriate pictures of students at Cortez and Arroyo elementary schools,” according to the Los Angeles Times. He was found to have child sex abuse material in his email, and to have taken at least one of the inappropriate photos in question of a female student at a local elementary school.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement, “He took advantage of his position and violated the privacy and innocence of children. Given the underlying conduct in this case, we are requiring that he register as a sex offender for life and never teach children again.”
Gonzalez was elected to office in 2016 and did not run for re-election in 2020 following his arrest. According to the Pomona city website, he had worked in the Pomona Unified School District, the Los Angeles Unified School district, and other school districts in California and Texas.
His punishment could have been as severe as seven years in state prison. The district attorney’s office did not comment on the specific terms of the negotiated plea deal. However, late last year, Gascón issued a directive to prosecutors to “seek probation in cases where a defendant is eligible to receive it, barring ‘extraordinary circumstances.’”
During his time on the Pomona City Council, Gonzalez was a self-described “advocate against violence toward women and children,” according to an email he sent to the Los Angeles Times. He was also a co-founder of a “multi-agency human trafficking coalition” that worked with the Pomona Police Department to combat prostitution and sex trafficking. He also worked as a teacher for more than 15 years.