Former School Janitor Pleads Not Guilty To Alleged Child Molestion Of Family Members

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA – A Pinole man pleaded not guilty on Thursday to child molestation charges involving three family members, according to police, a Contra Costa County deputy district attorney and the public defender's office.

Ruben Gonzalez, 60, pleaded not guilty to charges involving forcible lewd acts on children under 14 years old, Senior Deputy District Attorney Paul Graves said.

Gonzalez is being held at the county jail on nearly $47 million bail and could be in prison for life if he is convicted of all the charges, according to Graves.

Gonzalez was accused of molesting four children, but the charges against one were dropped because of the statute of limitations, Graves said.

Allegations made earlier this week were that Gonzalez molested the victims over 15 years. The victims were allegedly between four and 17 years old, according to police.

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Police Sgt. Matt Avery would not say whether the alleged victims were Gonzalez's children.

The last alleged molestation occurred about two years ago, Avery said.

Gonzalez was arrested at about 5 p.m. March 30 at his home following an alleged chase. The arrest was made the same day that police heard the allegations.

Police would not release Gonzalez's address because some of the alleged victims live there. Gonzalez has lived at his Pinole address for about the last 10 years, Avery said.

Gonzalez was an employee with the West Contra Costa Unified School District until March 31 when he was fired, according to school district officials.

Since January, Gonzalez was on the district's custodial team, which did deep cleaning at schools in the late afternoons and evenings. Before that he worked at Olinda Elementary School in Richmond from
August to December of last year.

So far evidence suggests that no students were allegedly molested. Additionally, none of the alleged molestations occurred on school property, according to police.

School district officials have banned Gonzalez from district property.

Gonzalez has had a county school district volunteer badge since 2011.

School officials said employees are required to pass FBI and California Department of Justice fingerprint and background checks.

Matthew Duffy, Superintendent of the West Contra Costa County Unified School District, said in a statement that the allegations are serious and disturbing and the thoughts of staff are with the victims.

The children living at Gonzalez's home were taken by staff of the Contra Costa County Children's & Family Services, police said.

Tish Gallegos, a spokeswoman for the agency, could not say how the children are doing because of confidentiality rules.

Police are urging anyone else who may be a victim or anyone else who has information about the case to call Pinole police at (510) 724-8950.

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