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Date: 06-15-2021

Case Style:

United States of America v. Damien Dre Gonzales

Case Number: 5:20-cr-00123-H-BQ

Judge: James Wesley Hendrix

Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Lubbuck County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: United States District Attorney’s Office

Defendant's Attorney:


Lubbock Criminal Defense Lawyer Directory


Description: Lubbock, Texas kidnapping charge criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant.

Damien Dre Gonzales, 27, of Levelland, Texas was charged with one count of kidnapping for abducting a 9-year-old girl from a birthday party.

Mr. Gonzales admitted to abducting a 9-year old girl at a birthday party in Levelland, Texas to engage in illicit sexual intercourse.

During the birthday party in August 2020, a woman began choking and most of the attendees went to assist with her sudden health emergency. While the minor’s father was attending to the woman, Mr. Gonzales lured the 9-year-old away by asking for her help carrying alcohol to his vehicle. Mr. Gonzales encouraged the girl to get inside the vehicle and then he drove away.

The girl’s disappearance set off a frantic search by her family and those at the birthday party. They notified law enforcement and replayed home surveillance footage that showed the 9-year-old leaving with Mr. Gonzales.

About that same time, the Levelland Police Department received a report of a vehicle parked in the middle of the street several miles from the location of the birthday party. Mr. Gonzales hit a residential mailbox and stopped in the road. While in the car, Mr. Gonzales sexually assaulted the girl by removing her clothes and touching her.

When law enforcement arrived on the scene to investigate the parked car, they discovered the girl inside. Officers noticed that Mr. Gonzales’ jeans were unzipped, and his belt was unbuckled. Inside Mr. Gonzales’ car was an open box of condoms sitting in the passenger seat and one condom was missing from the box.

The victim was immediately reunited with her parents and provided psychological and medical support.

The FBI Lubbock Resident Agency, Levelland Police Department, and Hockley County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Callie Woolam prosecuted the case.

KIDNAPPING, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1201(a)(1), 1201(d), and 1201(g)(1), which provide:

(a) Whoever unlawfully seizes, confines, inveigles, decoys, kidnaps, abducts, or carries away and holds for ransom or reward or otherwise any person, except in the case of a minor by the parent thereof, when—

(1) the person is willfully transported in interstate or foreign commerce, regardless of whether the person was alive when transported across a State boundary, or the offender travels in interstate or foreign commerce or uses the mail or any means, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in committing or in furtherance of the commission of the offense;

(2) any such act against the person is done within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States;

(3) any such act against the person is done within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States as defined in section 46501 of title 49;

(4) the person is a foreign official, an internationally protected person, or an official guest as those terms are defined in section 1116(b) of this title; or

(5) the person is among those officers and employees described in section 1114 of this title and any such act against the person is done while the person is engaged in, or on account of, the performance of official duties,

shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life and, if the death of any person results, shall be punished by death or life imprisonment.

(b) With respect to subsection (a)(1), above, the failure to release the victim within twenty-four hours after he shall have been unlawfully seized, confined, inveigled, decoyed, kidnapped, abducted, or carried away shall create a rebuttable presumption that such person has been transported in interstate or foreign commerce. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, the fact that the presumption under this section has not yet taken effect does not preclude a Federal investigation of a possible violation of this section before the 24-hour period has ended.

(c) If two or more persons conspire to violate this section and one or more of such persons do any overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.

(d) Whoever attempts to violate subsection (a) shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than twenty years.

(e) If the victim of an offense under subsection (a) is an internationally protected person outside the United States, the United States may exercise jurisdiction over the offense if (1) the victim is a representative, officer, employee, or agent of the United States, (2) an offender is a national of the United States, or (3) an offender is afterwards found in the United States. As used in this subsection, the United States includes all areas under the jurisdiction of the United States including any of the places within the provisions of sections 5 and 7 of this title and section 46501(2) of title 49. For purposes of this subsection, the term “national of the United States” has the meaning prescribed in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(22)).

(f) In the course of enforcement of subsection (a)(4) and any other sections prohibiting a conspiracy or attempt to violate subsection (a)(4), the Attorney General may request assistance from any Federal, State, or local agency, including the Army, Navy, and Air Force, any statute, rule, or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding.

(g) Special Rule for Certain Offenses Involving Children.—

(1) To whom applicable.—If—

(A) the victim of an offense under this section has not attained the age of eighteen years; and

(B) the offender—

(i) has attained such age; and

(ii) is not—

(I) a parent;

(II) a grandparent;

(III) a brother;

(IV) a sister;

(V) an aunt;

(VI) an uncle; or

(VII) an individual having legal custody of the victim;

the sentence under this section for such offense shall include imprisonment for not less than 20 years.

[(2) Repealed. Pub. L. 108–21, title I, §104(b), Apr. 30, 2003, 117 Stat. 653.]

(h) As used in this section, the term “parent” does not include a person whose parental rights with respect to the victim of an offense under this section have been terminated by a final court order.

Outcome: Defendant was sentenced to 365 months in prison.

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