Man charged with molesting little girl

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Larry M. Gonzalez, 52, is charged with four counts of child molesting. Court documents said he sexually abused his girlfriend's young daughter for the past six years.

The little girl said Gonzalez would rub his genital area on her and try to make her perform oral sex on him. She added he would lock the bedroom door and sometimes used a dog leash tied from the dresser to the door to keep her from leaving.

Click here to read the entire probable cause. WARNING: This contains graphic details.

The girl said she was scared to tell her mother what was happening because she thought she would get in trouble. The court documents said Gonzalez, the girl's mother's boyfriend, moved into their house about six years ago. Then the girl was three years old. She said she can't remember a time when these acts with Gonzalez didn't happen.

She told her mother what was happening in April 2009. Her mother then made Gonzalez move out.

He moved back to his parent's house in the 1900 block of Brown Street. Neighbors said Gonzalez was a nice guy who would take a lot of walks. They were shocked to hear the charges.

In a police interview, Gonzalez said he didn't do what the little girl said he did. He faces his four charges of child molesting, two Class A Felonies and two Class C Felonies, in court at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

As a live-in boyfriend, Gonzalez knew the little girl well, and SCAN, or Stop Child Abuse and Neglect, said it's common for abusers to know their victims.

"They are people that are known to the family. Sometimes, they are family members," SCAN Communications Director Stephanie Jentgen said. "Anyone who comes into a lot of contact with a child. It's usually not the person who jumps out of the bush and attacks someone."

Statistics show around 90 percent of victims know the abuser. It's also hard to recognize a perpetrator.

"There is no typical offender. You'd like to say they look like this, or act like this, or you could pick them out in a crowd, but the fact is, you can't," Jentgen said. "They could be dads, moms, aunts, uncles, grandparents, boyfriends, girlfriends, babysitters, teachers, pastors."

Abusers will often go through a "grooming" period with the child before the abuse begins.

"That's when they gain the trust of not only the child, but of the child's parents or child's caregiver. They do this by giving the child more attention, or give them gifts. There's a whole lot of ways they do it and once a comfort level is reached, that's usually when they start introducing the sexual behavior," Jentgen said.

Because the abuser is usually a trusted person, it's important to know the warning signs of child abuse.

"If a child says someone is touching them, believe them. Rarely would they lie about sexual abuse," Jentgen said. "If they all of a sudden don't want to be around a certain person or start asking questions like 'What would you think if someone did this to a person,' or they start talking in overt sexual tones, themes or words that are beyond their age, those are all red flags."

Other signs are physical evidence like blood, semen, infections and bruises.

It's estimated that one out of four girls and one out of six boys are sexually abused by the time they are 18.

"If people only knew how common this is. If you suspect at all that a child you know or your own child has been abused, please come forward," Jentgen said.

Jentgen added to not "grill" the child with questions because that could scare them. Instead, stay calm and report the suspected abuse to Child Protective Services.