Burbank Sex Predator Sentenced to 20 Years for 2012 Assaults

Photo: Fernando Gonzalez, 38, of Burbank, was sentenced to 20 years for the sexual assault of two 13-year-old girls in 2012.

A registered Burbank sex predator complained that he wasn’t given the opportunity to speak during his two-day trial in August before he was handed a 20-year sentence by a Cook County judge.

Fernando Gonzalez, 38, was convicted of two counts of criminal sexual assault and four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault on Aug. 12, when prosecutors said he lured two 13-year-old girls to his SUV and molesting them.

Gonzalez was arrested following a five-month investigation by Burbank police into allegations of sexual abuse that occurred August 7, 2012 near Owens Park in the 5100 block of 78th Street in Burbank.

According to the charges, Gonzalez lured the girls one by one into SUV telling them they could be models and taking photos of them in their underwear. Upon taking each girl’s photo, he sexually assaulted them.

The girls, now 16, were only able to provide limited information about their abuser to Burbank police. After months of working leads, investigators eventually found Gonzalez on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry website.

Gonzalez is registered sex predator stemming from a 2000 conviction for criminal sexual abuse and robbery in Riverside. Gonzalez, then 20, his victim in that incident told jurors that Gonzalez forced her into a van and masturbated while touching her, Daily Southtown reported.

His defense claimed that Gonzalez never touched the girls.

During his sentencing on Wednesday before Judge Colleen Hyland, Gonzalez apologized to his family and the girls for his “indecent proposal,” by offering to pay the girls for their pictures.

Judge Hyland called Gonzalez “methodical” and “cunning” before sentencing Gonzalez to 20 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Gonzalez will receive credit for 982 days spent in the Cook County Jail, where he was being held on $1 million bail. He will be required to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence.