Man charged with burglary, criminal sexual conduct
WORTHINGTON — Charges were filed this week against a man accused of entering a house and trying to grab two women.
WORTHINGTON — Charges were filed this week against a man accused of entering a house and trying to grab two women.
Roberto Pito Gonzales, also known as Roberto Gonzales Pito, 41, from Lufkin, Texas, was charged in Nobles County District Court with two counts of first-degree burglary and two counts of fifth-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct.
According to the criminal complaint, authorities were dispatched in response to a 911 call to an address on East Avenue at approximately 11:40 p.m. The information from dispatch stated a man wearing a yellow shirt had entered a residence without permission and, while inside, had grabbed a woman and tried to take her out of the house. The caller reported chasing the intruder on foot.
An officer met with the complainant, who said he had chased the man toward Murray Avenue.
Along with his canine partner Laika, the officer ran in the direction the complainant had indicated. The officer could not see the man, but Laika tracked the suspect to a wooden landing, where a man wearing a yellow shirt was lying on his stomach under a deck. The complaint states the clearance was less than 20 inches, and the man barely fit under the structure.
The officer allegedly ordered the man to come out, but got no response. He informed the suspect the dog would be sent in if he did not comply, yet the man remained silent and motionless.
The officer sent Laika after the man. When the dog bit the man’s lower right leg and tried to pull him out from under the deck, the man started to back out from his hiding spot. When he emerged and showed his hands were empty, the officer called off the dog.
He then checked the man’s leg and found no puncture wounds from the incident.
The man, later identified as Gonzales, was detained while the alleged victims were interviewed.
One woman said the family was just moving into the house. She said her children were inside and she and another woman were carrying things into the house when a man came toward the house and stated he wanted to help them.
The man allegedly grabbed the other woman from behind, and she struggled with him. He then allegedly tried to grab the first woman. She said he entered the house and she tried to use a chair she was carrying to keep him back. He tried to grab her breasts, she stated, and she started to scream.
The second woman gave a similar statement, and said the incident happened very fast. She didn’t know the man, she said, and was scared.
The man who called authorities stated he saw a man walking toward the house as he was parking his van in the garage. He then heard screaming.
The complainant said the man claimed to live next door, which he knew was untrue as he owned the house next door as well as the house they were moving into. The man in the yellow shirt then allegedly ran to the house next door and tried to enter it, but could not, so he ran to the east.
The complainant said he chased the intruder, not to catch him, but to keep him in sight as he called the police.
Gonzales was arrested and taken to the Nobles County Jail, where he agreed to give a statement. A preliminary breath test showed he had an alleged blood alcohol level of .24.
Gonzales claimed he didn’t do anything. He stated he was at a bar and some people there wanted to fight with him. He said he left the bar, and that was where police found him. He denied entering a house or touching a woman. He said he was going to his sister’s house “in the trailers,” adding he was just visiting for her birthday and had run from the police because he was afraid. He allegedly admitted he had been drinking “a little bit.”
Tags: criminal sexual conduct, news, worthington, charges, gonzales, burglary
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