A Los Angeles family court judge, Brenda Comer Robinson, granted singer Jack Avery a five-year restraining order and sole physical custody of his seven-year-old daughter following a two-day hearing. Avery, 27, a former member of the boy band Why Don’t We, testified that he was “very scared” of the girl’s mother, TikTok influencer Gabriela Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, 25, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and solicitation of murder in connection with an alleged dark web plot to kill Avery. She has pleaded not guilty and did not testify at the family court hearing. The judge found that Gonzalez had engaged in “clearly manipulative behavior that caused him emotional harm” and that the couple’s daughter was “a direct victim of the abuse perpetrated by Ms. Gonzalez.” The judge also said it was in the girl’s best interest to have professionally monitored visits with her mother once an existing criminal protective order permits contact.
Avery testified that the FBI first contacted him in 2021 to say Gonzalez was under investigation over an alleged plot against him. He said he missed more than 25 visits with his daughter, who was living with Gonzalez in another state, and said he now has severe anxiety and panic disorder.
Prosecutors’ allegations
Prosecutors allege that between October 2020 and May 2021, Gonzalez repeatedly discussed wanting Avery dead and enlisted her former boyfriend, Hawaii surf instructor Kai Cordrey, to help. Prosecutors say Francisco Gonzalez, Gabriela Gonzalez’s father and a Florida lawyer, sent Cordrey $10,000 in April 2021 to finance the plot, and that Cordrey moved the money into a Gemini cryptocurrency account. According to the complaint, an undercover FBI agent posing as a hit man spoke with Cordrey by phone in September 2021.
- Prosecutors say the three defendants face 25 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged.
- All three defendants have pleaded not guilty.
- The next hearing in the criminal case is scheduled for Nov. 18.
Gonzalez’s criminal lawyer, Elliot Zarabi, argued in court filings that his client “played a comparatively limited role” in the alleged plot. Francisco Gonzalez’s lawyer, Karen L. Goldstein, accused prosecutors of exaggerating the evidence. Cordrey’s lawyer has declined to comment while the criminal case is pending.
Source: Rolling Stone Music
