By Maggie Newland
NBC 2 [Florida]
February 14, 2007
http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=11118&z=3&p=
Lee County: A church youth leader accused of repeated sexual assaults on two teenage boys now has a $300,000 bond after his first court appearance. The judge ordered a mental health evaluation and ordered him not to have contact with minors if he bonds out of jail. NBC2 spoke to a woman who knows Elantonio "T.O." Gomez and the boys.
It's a story one woman says will haunt her for a long time - a story she says leaves her so heart-broken, she only agreed to talk if she could remain anonymous. She fears if her name or face were used, it could bring even more pain to a child who has already been through so much.
A bible verse greets all who arrive at Gomez's front door - a symbol of his job as a church youth leader.
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| Gomez |
But people who know Gomez say he didn't just work with young people on Sundays. They say his door was always open to kids.
It was no surprise that when a 15-year-old boy was abandoned by his mother after Hurricane Katrina, Gomez welcomed him into his home. But deputies say what went on there was anything but holy.
For nearly a year, deputies say Gomez repeatedly sexually assaulted the boy as well as another young boy from his church.
The woman says she wishes she could have protected the boy Gomez took into his home.
"But T.O. never let him out of his sight. The kid couldn't do anything, that's what made me suspicious," said the woman.
She says that over the 11 month span the boy lived with Gomez, he became more and more withdrawn.
"At first I thought it had something to do with back home - with his mother. But then I started seeing this look in his face like a blank - a blank look," said the woman.
She says she started to wonder about sexual abuse.
"You know that's something that you think. God, you shouldn't think things like that and I thought if it was, the kid would tell me," said the woman.
But she says she now she realizes the boy may have tried to tell her.
"He said, 'I've had real bad things happen to me,"' said the woman.
But she says she never knew just how bad - until now.
"Physical pain, emotional pain and to what, a 15-year-old kid?" said the woman.
The woman said she's sure there are more victims out there simply because Gomez had so many children over at his house. Deputies also say they believe there are more victims and urge them to come forward.
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