The Lawyer Predator

 

     Eric Hernan Gamonal is one of the less-discussed predators in the series, but probably deserves more attention: he was the only predator who could have defended himself in court. Gamonal had among the highest falls of any predator in show history and wound up in the legal system as a man facing felony sex crime charges rather than representing a client. 

     Born on April 17th, 1978, Gamonal had a good career. He graduated high school in 1997, completed his bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 2001, and completed his bar exam on November 19th, 2004, California Bar license number 232229. He had attended the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, since renamed Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2015.

     Eric Gamonal settled in San Fernando Valley, California, and began trying to work off the $250,000 in law school debt he was left with. He probably would have succeeded and gone on to make a decent living as a lawyer, but he ran into trouble less than 14 months later.

     Using the screen name "chinaski818," he made contact with a decoy he believed to be a 14-year-old girl named Maria Bothal on January 6th, 2006, the first day of the sting. He saw her age on her profile and, after confirming it, he told her she was cute, asked if she had a boyfriend, asked if he could be her boyfriend, and asked if she had experience with oral sex. His chat was short, typical, and to the point, occurring in a few short bursts between noon and 5 P.M. After running errands, he drove an hour and a half to the sting house, wine coolers in hand, where he was interviewed by Chris Hansen, arrested, and brought to the makeshift booking station in a nearby parking lot. It was in this scene that we was depicted in brief portions of the show (he was also shown being arrested and put into the police car).

     Gamonal's case concluded relatively quickly for a Riverside arrest: with 51 men busted, a year's time is rapid for a conviction. He was convicted of attempted lewd or lascivious acts with a child 14 or under and sentenced to six months in jail, five years of probation, and lifetime sex offender registration on January 17th, 2007. He resigned from the bar with charges pending against his license, rendering him permanently banned from practicing law with a huge amount of remaining school debt. His probation ended in 2012.

     Not much is known about Gamonal after his conviction, sentence, and loss of his legal license. He has put on considerable weight, at 5'7" and 200 pounds, still wears his pedophile prescription glasses, and lives at 5740 Hazeltine Avenue, Apartment 5, in Van Nuys, California.

Sources:

Chat

Law School 

Resignation

Redfin

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