‘He will never change.’ Ex-Miami-Dade cop gets life in prison for molesting young girls

A former Miami-Dade police lieutenant will serve life in prison for repeatedly molesting two young girls.

A judge on Friday sentenced Braulio Gonzalez, 48, to life in prison for the crimes that shattered the lives of the two victims, who are now in their 20s.

“There will be no closure here,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Miguel de la O said. “The fact that people continue to defend you is just classic cognitive dissonance.”

Gonzalez was sentenced three months after a jury deliberated just 15 minutes in convicting him of armed kidnapping and lascivious molestation. Gonzalez, who plans to appeal his conviction, declined to address the court — or apologize to the victims during the hearing.

Miami-Dade police first arrested Gonzalez in September 2018, after a girl who was known to him told a psychologist that he fondled her several times when she was between 8 and 10 years old. She also told a Florida Department of Children & Families interviewer that the first time Gonzalez fondled her, he pointed a gun at her head and threatened to kill a relative.

The girl’s sister also told investigators about her own molestation. Both testified at trial, and each told the judge on Friday that Gonzalez had shattered their lives.

One victim is now in college studying psychology and said she is hoping to channel her trauma into helping other victims.

“I didn’t deserve to suffer like that,” she told the judge. “I definitely do not deserve to suffer now. The abuse doesn’t go away. You don’t forget.”

Her sister — who once tried to overdose on pills — said she is still in therapy. “This is something I’ll have to live with the rest of my life,” she said.

Gonzalez, a former Hialeah cop, joined Miami-Dade police in 1999. Before his arrest he was assigned to the Special Response Team, which handles hostage situations, warrants and dangerous fugitive searches.

He’d been allowed to keep his job despite multiple allegations that he’d repeatedly beaten and abused his former lovers, according to internal police files. Miami-Dade police cleared him of those allegations.

“He had hurt so many people for such a long time, and he always got away with it,” the mother of the victims told the court. “He will never change.”

Gonzalez’s defense lawyer, Bruce Lehr, asked that he be sentenced to just 25 years in prison, painting him as a dedicated cop who saved multiple lives during his time on the force.

Gonzalez’s wife of four years testified on his behalf, as did two cops: former Hialeah police officer Phillip Kennedy and Miami Beach reserve officer Reinaldo Casas.

“He was dependable and always trying to help out as much as he could ... I can’t say anything negative about him,” said Casas (who once made the news after he was fired for testing positive for cocaine, then got his job back after claiming he didn’t know the drug was unknowingly included in a sex-aid cream).

But prosecutors Natalie Snyder and Khalil Madani argued that the ex-cop lived a double life.

“Behind the scenes, he was very violent,” Snyder said. “He’s a very dangerous person.”