Former cop accused of contacting victim’s mother

Former Trumbull Police Officer Michael Gonzalez. Former Trumbull Police Officer Michael Gonzalez. Photo: Contributed Photo / Contributed Photo Photo: Contributed Photo / Contributed Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Former cop accused of contacting victim’s mother 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

BRIDGEPORT — A retired Trumbull cop charged with using a department computer to track down a teenaged girl he had met through a department Cadet program was accused Thursday of attempting to contact the girl’s mother.

Superior Court Judge Tracy Lee Dayton told Michael Gonzalez that she will not hesitate to order him jailed if he has any further contact with the victim or her family.

The judge then extended the protective order on the victim to include her family and friends.

During a brief hearing on Thursday, Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Tatiana Messina told the judge that Gonzalez had attempted to contact the girl’s mother on her Linked In page.

The judge continued the case to Sept. 6.

Gonzalez, 40, who retired from the Police Department last year after being arrested for assaulting a female officer, is accused of using the Police Department computer to get the address and car registration information for a teenaged girl he is accused of later sexually assaulting at her Trumbull home.

He is charged with third-degree computer crime, a felony; he was not charged with the alleged sex assault.

State police, who took over the investigation, said Gonzalez was not charged with sex assault because the girl’s mother reported the alleged incident 20 days after the statute of limitations on the charge, fourth-degree sex assault, had run out.

On Aug. 24, 2018, the teen’s mother contacted Trumbull Police Sgt. Brian Weir and reported that her daughter had been sexually assaulted by Gonzalez in 2017, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. Gonzalez had met the girl when he was a supervisor in the Police Department’s cadet program, to which she had been a member.

Internal affairs investigators for the police department interviewed the 18-year-old girl on Aug. 27, 2018. On Oct. 31, 2018, the case was turned over to state police who again interviewed the teen, the affidavit states.

The affidavit states that police were able to confirm that Gonzalez’s patrol car was parked at the teen’s home when she said the assault occurred. The teen’s boyfriend also confirmed that the teen had told him of the incident, the affidavit states.