Man seen in surveillance footage of attempted 2019 Irvine sexual assault found guilty

Jurors found a man charged in the attempted sexual assault of a woman who was cleaning an office building in Irvine three years ago guilty on five criminal counts Monday.

Eduardo Gonzalez-Godoy admitted he was the man seen pointing a pellet gun that closely resembled a Glock 19 at the victim while she was working overnight on the 17800 block of Von Karman Avenue and trying to rape her at about 1:20 a.m. on Feb. 6, 2019. He was arrested the following day and subsequently charged with a misdemeanor count of brandishing a replica firearm and felony allegations of making criminal threats, second-degree burglary, assault with intent to commit rape and kidnapping to commit a sex offense.

Jurors spent about six hours in deliberation before finding Gonzalez-Godoy guilty of all charges. He is scheduled to appear at a sentencing hearing on Jan. 27. The crimes he was convicted of typically carry a sentence of at least seven years to life in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeffrey Boyd said.

The defendant took the witness stand on Thursday and said he intended to have sex with a woman when he left his home on the day of the attack, whether or not it was consensual. He initially went to a medical complex on Von Karman and was seen peering into its windows, according to a woman who testified that she was working alone inside the facility at the time.

Gonzalez-Godoy then made his way to the office, where a woman identified only as Jane Doe during proceedings was vacuuming. He said he searched the area to make sure she was alone before approaching her and propositioning her for sex.

He drew the pellet gun from his waistband when she refused and told him she was calling for help. They went on to struggle for control of the replica for about five minutes.

They wound up in a side room of the office and tripped over a piece of furniture. The victim managed to take what she believed at the time to be a real firearm away from him, then ran to another building to find her co-workers.

During trial, the defendant and his attorney, Randall Bethune, did not deny that he committed the attempted sexual assault. However, they claimed that no kidnapping took place, according to the legal definition of the term.

They argued that he did not specifically intend to bring the victim into the room where she eventually managed to take the pellet gun, and that their specific location in the business was not relevant to her risk of harm. Boyd pointed out that the room was further away from the building’s exits and out of view from its entrance. The prosecutor also noted that the defendant told police he wanted to move toward that room because there were beds inside.

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