GILROY
– A 48-year-old freelance television journalist could face more
than two consecutive life sentences if found guilty of sexually
abusing a Gilroy girl – repeatedly and sometimes forcibly – over
five years.
GILROY – A 48-year-old freelance television journalist could face more than two consecutive life sentences if found guilty of sexually abusing a Gilroy girl – repeatedly and sometimes forcibly – over five years.
City police arrested Kevin Wayne Bonilla, of 7771 Driftwood Terrace, Tuesday. He is currently in county jail with no bail allowed.
Deputy District Attorney Stacey Rubino, who specializes in serious sex crimes against children, said Bonilla had numerous sexual encounters with the victim between 1997 to 2002. The victim, now 16, was 10 years old when the incidents began.
Bonilla allegedly used force to commit at least two of these acts, Rubino said, and therefore he faces two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14. These counts carry consecutive sentences of 15 years to life in prison, meaning Bonilla would be sentenced to at least three decades if found guilty.
On top of that, Bonilla is looking at a felony charge of continuous sexual assault of a child under the age of 14, which carries a penalty of six to 16 years in prison.
Professionally, Bonilla is a television photojournalist with 23 years of experience in video production, according to Gilroy’s Community Media Access Partnership, of which Bonilla is a former board member, according to CMAP Web documents. The CMAP site says Bonilla got his start with KNTV (NBC) Channel 11 in San Jose and won an Emmy award for a piece on HUD housing.
Police described Bonilla as self-employed.
“He hasn’t worked for a while, like three years,” Gilroy Police Detective Wes Stanford said. “He got injured somehow; I’m not sure how. … He did a lot of sportscasting: football games, baseball games, stuff like that.”
Bonilla also is undergoing psychological treatment. At his arraignment Thursday afternoon in court in San Martin, he asked Judge Ray Cunningham if he could continue this counseling while in jail. Cunningham told Bonilla he would pass the concerns on to jail officials.
“I’m supposed to be seeing doctors weekly: one a psychiatrist, the other a psychologist,” said Bonilla, clad in a brown jail jumpsuit. “(County corrections officers) have not been giving me my medications. When I was arrested, I had them on me.”
The reported abuse was first brought to police attention late last week, and officers arrested Bonilla at 3:29 p.m. Tuesday, stopping his car on the 7500 block of Kentwood Court.
“It looks like there was only one victim,” Stanford said, but he added that there could be others.
Bonilla does not have a private attorney, so Judge Cunningham referred him to the Office of the Public Defender.
Bonilla’s bail was originally set at $1 million, but at his arraignment Judge Cunningham removed the possibility of bail. This was in step with amendments to Bonilla’s charges. Police originally brought 10 felony charges against Bonilla, but Rubino amended them before the arraignment, reducing their number but increasing their severity. Since the current charges carry life sentences, Cunningham granted Rubino’s request to deny bail.
The original charges were as follows:
• five counts of committing a lewd or lascivious act with a child under the age of 14,
• three counts of sexual penetration with a child under the age of 14,
• one count of oral copulation with a child under the age of 14,
• one count of sexual penetration with someone under the age of 16.
Stanford said the alleged victim is currently in a fragile emotional state.
“I think it’s important to allow the victim time to heal,” Stanford said.
CMAP Executive Director Suzanne St. John-Crane said she met Bonilla a few times, several months ago, and was surprised to hear of his arrest and what he is accused of.
“That’s freaky!” St. John-Crane said. “I know of him. He’s a student up at Gavilan (College), or he was, I think, doing the television program up here.”
