A Fort Bliss soldier was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting his 3-year-old son in an attack captured on a neighbor’s security camera.
Spc. Baltazar E. Gonzalez, 27, pleaded guilty Aug. 12 to domestic violence, cocaine use, drunken driving and assaulting a civilian police officer, according to the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel. He was sentenced the same day, according to a press release issued Tuesday by the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel.
The child assault happened Feb. 17, 2025, during a party at a home in El Paso, Texas, according to the service. The Army said a witness saw Gonzalez repeatedly punch his son in the head and chest while they were outside in a driveway.
El Paso police responded to a 911 call and arrested Gonzalez. The child was taken to a nearby hospital, where he remained for two days. Investigators later obtained security-camera footage from a nearby home that caught the assault.
“This sentencing brings accountability to Spc. Gonzalez’s actions,” said Special Agent in Charge Olga Morales, Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division Southwest Field Office, in a statement. “His senseless attack on a defenseless child represents a grave violation of the professional ethics and values that define the U.S. Army.”
At sentencing, prosecutors called a child abuse pediatrician who had reviewed the video. The doctor testified that the blows could have caused fatal injuries, according to the Army.
Army Took Over Prosecution of On- and Off-Post Offenses
The case is an example of how the military’s relatively new independent prosecutors can work with civilian authorities when a service member is accused of serious crimes away from an installation.
After discussions between civilian prosecutors and the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel, the Army agreed to take the lead on all known offenses involving Gonzalez, including conduct that occurred both on and off Fort Bliss. That included a cocaine charge stemming from a Jan. 7, 2025, unit urinalysis.
The Pentagon shifted authority over domestic violence and several other serious crimes away from commanders and into independent Offices of Special Trial Counsel in December 2023. Those offices make prosecution decisions outside the accused service member’s chain of command and handle offenses including domestic violence, murder, manslaughter, kidnapping and most sexual assault cases.
After Gonzalez’s case was transferred to the Army prosecutors, he was released from jail and restricted to Fort Bliss by his command. Per the Army, Gonzalez violated those restrictions less than a month later.
On March 9, 2025, Gonzalez left the installation and was stopped by an El Paso police officer on suspicion of drunken driving. During the traffic stop, Gonzalez allegedly became confrontational and assaulted the officer before being arrested again.
Prosecutors Cite Cooperation Between Army, Local Authorities
Maj. Joshua Storm, a prosecutor with the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel’s Fifth Circuit, credited more than a year of coordination between civilian and military investigators and prosecutors with bringing the case to a conclusion.
“Although no court-martial sentence can undo the harm of domestic violence, the sentence imposed is an important step in securing justice for Spc. Gonzalez’s child,” Storm said in the Army’s announcement.
Gonzalez was an ammunition specialist assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, at Fort Bliss. He was being held at the Otero County Detention Center in Alamogordo, N.M., while awaiting transfer to a military correctional facility.
The case was investigated by the El Paso Police Department and the Army Criminal Investigation Division’s Southwest Field Office. Army prosecutors Storm and Capt. Rachel Seifert handled the prosecution.
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