Investigators say Cristobal Gonzalez made the statement after deputies arrested him in a drone-related complaint.
EL PASO, Texas — A man accused of stalking his former girlfriend with a drone allegedly told deputies from a holding cell that he would return because “the laws are pointless,” according to a criminal complaint in El Paso County.
The remark is now one of the clearest details in a case built from a 911 call, doorbell video, a damaged camera, a drone found in a car and the account of a woman who said she feared for her life. Cristobal Gonzalez, 26, is charged with stalking, theft of property and criminal trespass. Deputies say the alleged victim is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer and the mother of a child she shares with Gonzalez.
The complaint says Gonzalez was already in custody when he made the alleged statement. Deputies had taken him to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Peter J. Herrera Patrol Station after a May 23 response in Horizon City. He had been placed in a holding cell when he allegedly said, “I’ll be back, the laws are pointless.” Investigators did not describe the statement as a response to questioning. Earlier, after deputies read him his Miranda rights, Gonzalez had said, “I wish to plead the 5th,” according to the affidavit. Those two statements sit side by side in the case file, one invoking a right to silence and the other, deputies say, signaling a possible intent to return.
The arrest followed a family violence call at about 7:40 a.m. in the 600 block of Paseo Modesto Drive. A deputy heading to the home was told the woman inside was a CBP officer and that she had a gun. Dispatchers said she had reported she would use it if Gonzalez entered the house. When the deputy reached the home, Gonzalez was gone. The woman was hesitant to open the door because she believed he could still be outside. She was in uniform and crying when deputies spoke with her, the complaint says. She told them that she and Gonzalez were no longer together, that they share a child and that he did not live at the residence.
The woman gave deputies a sequence that began after work. She said she picked up her son in West El Paso and returned to the Horizon City home. As she pulled into her garage, she saw Gonzalez’s 2020 gray Cadillac CT5 parked on the street. She got inside and the garage door closed before he could get in, according to the complaint. Gonzalez then went to the front door, where he knocked several times. Deputies say he forcibly removed a Ring doorbell camera from an exterior wall. After the video feed stopped, the woman called 911. She told deputies she feared Gonzalez would enter and hurt her, then took her son into a bedroom and barricaded the door.
The alleged drone evidence emerged from video sent by the woman and from what deputies later saw at Gonzalez’s home. The complaint says one video showed Gonzalez walking toward the front sidewalk and picking up a white drone while its propellers were still spinning. The deputy wrote that the drone had not been visible on the sidewalk before Gonzalez arrived. Deputies later went to the 12000 block of Powick Drive near Horizon City at about 8:15 a.m. and found Gonzalez’s car. A white drone was visible on the front passenger seat. Investigators later recovered a drone and controller while serving a warrant on the vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office. The complaint does not say whether any images or video were pulled from the drone.
Gonzalez’s case also includes a claim of property damage. The theft of property charge is tied to the doorbell camera that deputies say was removed from the wall. Doorbell video can become evidence in domestic incidents because it records movement at a door and often captures sound, faces, vehicles or times. In this case, the woman emailed the footage to a deputy. The complaint says the footage showed Gonzalez arriving and removing the camera. Deputies did not say in the public reports whether the device was recovered intact or whether it was damaged beyond use. The criminal trespass charge is tied to the allegation that Gonzalez went to the home despite earlier conflict and did not live there.
Prior contacts between deputies and the former couple appear in the complaint as context for why the woman said she was afraid. The affidavit lists two earlier reports. One was a March 3 domestic violence call that was cleared as verbal only. The other was a domestic criminal trespass incident that resulted in warrants for Gonzalez. The woman told deputies there was an extensive history of family violence and criminal trespassing involving him. She also said the May 23 incident fit a pattern of repeated offenses and escalating behavior. Deputies reported that she requested an emergency protective order. Public court records cited in reports did not show whether a judge had granted that order.
The alleged victim’s status as a federal officer became part of the emergency response but did not remove the fear described in the complaint. Deputies wrote that she was in her CBP duty uniform when they arrived and that she had armed herself with her duty weapon in the bedroom. She told dispatchers she would use the gun if Gonzalez entered. The complaint describes that moment not as a standoff with police, but as a woman and her child sealed inside a room while she believed her former partner might still be outside. Her name was not published in the reports, consistent with the practice of withholding the names of possible domestic violence victims.
Gonzalez was booked into the El Paso County jail on May 23. His initial bond was set at $27,000. Court records cited in reports show an El Paso County magistrate judge held a bond reduction hearing May 25 and lowered the bond to $15,000. The records did not state which magistrate judge presided over that hearing. Gonzalez posted bail and was released from jail the same day. No attorney was listed for him in court records cited by the reports. The allegations remain pending, and prosecutors would have to prove the charges in court. A later report said Gonzalez’s next court appearance was scheduled for July 1.
What remains unresolved is the full reach of the drone allegation. Deputies said surveillance footage showed Gonzalez using a drone to watch the house, and the complaint said the device may have been used to surveil or stalk the woman. The public reports do not say how long the drone was in the air, where it took off, how close it came to the home or whether investigators reviewed any stored footage. They also do not say whether any protective order was granted after the woman requested one. Those gaps leave the court file, future hearings and any prosecutor filings as the next sources of answers.
What happens next will turn on court filings, bond conditions and any evidence prosecutors choose to present. Gonzalez has not been convicted, and public reports do not show whether an emergency protective order was granted. Deputies placed the alleged holding cell statement, Ring camera video, drone and woman’s fear at the center of the complaint.
Author note: Last updated July 6, 2026.