ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Palm Beach County teacher and Navy JROTC instructor is under arrest after police say he tried to have a sexual and romantic relationship with a student.
According to an arrest report, Israel Gonzalez, 56, teaches at Royal Palm Beach Community High School.
An 18-year-old student said Gonzalez, whom she calls "Chief," made inappropriate comments to her on Feb. 2 while the two were alone in a classroom.
"Gonzalez asked if she could keep a secret, and when she said yes, he asked if she would like to make out with him," the arrest report stated.
The teen told police she replied no, and then asked Gonzalez why he would say that.
"He said, 'You are a young and intelligent teenager, and you speak eloquently, and present yourself as a lady, not an 18-year-old,'" according to the arrest report. "Fearing that he would do something to her, she said that she left the classroom."
After reporting the incident to the Palm Beach Schools Police Department, the teen took part in a "controlled phone call" with Gonzalez on Feb. 3, which an officer listened in on.
Police said the teen told Gonzalez "she was nervous because she's never done anything like this with anyone," to which Gonzalez replied "he couldn't stop thinking about it."
The teen asked, "'All you wanna do is make out... right?' and Gonzalez replies, 'Yes'," the arrest report stated.
Gonzalez then called the girl the "most interesting one" in the school's Navy JROTC program.
The teen "told Gonzalez that she has concerns that making out would lead to sex because it could get intense and lead to foreplay," according to the arrest report.
Gonzalez said "if she is willing to do that, not the sex stuff, but the making out, that would be her decision, but if you and I start making out, we enjoy, we enjoy."
Police said that as the phone call went on, "Gonzalez explained in graphic detail what he wanted to do to her sexually" and that "he just wanted to kiss her at first to see how she would react."
Gonzalez ended the call by saying "he would be open to more encounters with her."
Gonzalez was arrested on Thursday at Royal Palm Beach Community High School and booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on a charge of an authority figure soliciting or engaging in lewd conduct with a student. He has since bonded out.
WPTV reached out to the Public Records Department of the School District of Palm Beach County for more information about Gonzalez's teaching status, but we haven't heard back yet.
