Roman Gonzalez, a 67-year-old man, was detained at Union Square subway station on April 9 for indecent exposure directed at a female passenger on the platform. This was not his first inappropriate behavior, as he has been apprehended 32 times since 1983, with the recent encounter marking his sixth time for similar offenses. Despite the severity of the accusation, Gonzalez was released post-arrest because the severity of his crime was not bail-eligible.
Police sources have identified repeat offenders like Gonzalez as the primary fuel to the fire of sexual misconduct on the city’s public transportation avenues. An analytical review of the NYPD’s data reveals that in 2025 alone, there have been 213 confirmed arrests for sex offenses within the city’s transit system. Hideously, among these, 52 had previous arrest records for similar offenses.
Gonzalez, who hails from Staten Island, has a crime history that dates back 42 years to when he was 25. His first arrest was for possession of a weapon, in this case, brass knuckles, which he allegedly used to intimidate another individual. Subsequent legal offenses have included petit larceny, possession of stolen credit cards, grand larceny, and menacing.
By the year 2005, Gonzalez’s violation skirmishes had escalated to forcible touching. Eleven years later, he was detained on charges of sexual abuse, and within the same year, he was again arrested for public lewdness. In February, a woman reported him for engaging in inappropriate behavior on the N train in Manhattan.
Remarkably, even with his extensive criminal record, Gonzalez was given a desk appearance ticket following his March 18 arrest, and was subsequently released. Similarly, another individual, 27-year-old Kenneth Tsui, known for multiple previous sex crimes was brought into custody on June 8 for a suspected sexual offense against a 17-year-old girl.
Following his court appearance in August, Tsui was set free, although he had pleaded guilty to persistent sexual abuse. His next court session, concerning his sentence for the aforementioned conviction, is scheduled for September. On another instance, Tsui was held due to allegations of sexual misconduct on Subway line 6 where he had improperly established physical contact.
Tsui faced a forcible touching charge in December 2023, but his case was eventually dismissed, as he was deemed unable to withstand trial. By the following year, the court recognized him as a Level 1 Sex Offender, the least severe classification in the judicial system.
A third individual associated with similar inappropriate actions is 37-year-old Dexter Betancourt. He allegedly behaved inadequately when rejected by a female passenger as she waited for her train on June 18. Subsequently, he was arrested on charges of forcible touching but was released without bail pending his next court hearing in September.
Betancourt is no stranger to the law either, as he has close to two dozen prior arrests on his record. Back in 2013, he was brought up on charges for violent misconduct against a 27-year-old woman in the Upper East Side neighborhood, as reported by sources with this information.
Additionally, Betancourt was accused of physically assaulting a 25-year-old woman the preceding year. The pattern of these events points to a broader issue with the justice system, as some feel it doesn’t effectively deter repeat offenders of this specific category of infractions.
A part of the law enforcement community expressed an urgency for the judicial system to enact stricter responses to recidivist offenders. The source critically pointed out the propensity of the courts to undervalue public indecency cases and not administer severe enough consequences.
The source insisted that the courts often lacked the necessary severity when dealing with cases of public indecency, resulting in light punishments that do not deter offenders from repeating their actions. To solve the recurring issue, the source suggested that the courts need to impose stiffer penalties and ensure prolonged jail sentences for such offenders.
The lack of serious repercussions seems to enable such offenders to continue with their misconduct without fearing the law. This, according to the source, gives them the arrogance to continually re-offend, knowing that the punishment might not be harsh enough to deter their criminal behavior.
Heightened penalties, stiffer jail sentences, and more seriousness from the courts in handling these cases are calls from within the police force to help curb this menace. They hope that these measures could act as deterrents for repeat offenders towards these types of crimes on public transportation services.
The overall scenario points to an urgent need for reforms in the legal system to effectively deal with repeated offenders. Unless profound measures are taken to reform the current system, it might continue to fuel the boldness of those who have no fear of facing the consequences of their deviant behaviors.
The post Sexual Misconduct on Public Transport: The Case of Roman Gonzalez appeared first on Real News Now.
About Author
