The man charged with murder and rape in the killing of 10-year-old Victoria Martens admitted in state court Thursday that he violated his probation in a 2014 domestic violence case.
In a brief hearing before Judge Michael Martinez on Thursday morning, Fabian Gonzales admitted that he never reported to parole and probation.
“He was ordered to report the day of his sentencing and he didn’t,” his attorney Joe Shattuck said following the hearing.
Gonzales, 31, will be sentenced for that probation violation early next month.
The 5-foot-5-inch Gonzales, wearing shackles and an orange jumpsuit, was accompanied by two county corrections officers and two members of the Department of Corrections tactical unit.
He pleaded no contest in the case in question to child abandonment and battery on a household member, both misdemeanors, according to online court records. He was placed on probation for two years in February 2015 and was still on probation at the time of Martens’ death.
Gonzales, along with the girl’s mother, Michelle Martens, and Jessica Kelley, his cousin, remain in custody. The group allegedly drugged, raped, killed and dismembered the child before setting her body on fire in her mother’s West Side apartment.
The trio will be arraigned this morning on charges in that case.
