410 Forum — News
Former Gang Member Chooses The Simple Life
By Chesney Randolph
It’s a typical Monday for Anthony Gonzalas. He wakes up at 6 a.m., grabs a bowl of Fruit Loops and heads to work. It’s a four-minute drive from his house to work at King Soopers, but he blasts his favorite song at the moment, “Right Round” by Flo Rida, the whole way. He puts in an eight-hour shift stocking shelves and bagging groceries until 4 p.m. Then he heads home for few hours to eat, shower and get ready for school. Gonzalas attends Aims Community College until 9 p.m., does some homework and then goes to bed, only to repeat the same day again for repeat the same day again for the rest of the work week.
“To anyone else this would seem like a really boring life, but compared to where I was a few years ago, it’s like heaven,” Gonzalas said.
A Greeley gang member, Gonzalas faced felony charges for attempted armed robbery of a pawn shop in 2000. Because he was a minor at the time, the judge said that the best plan would be not to send him to a correctional facility but to get him out of the gang.
“He said it was my choice. That if I continued on the path I was on I would end up in prison for the rest of my life or dead,” Gonzalas said. “It wasn’t until I looked at my mom crying behind me I realized that it was true.”
But leaving the gang was not going to be easy. He joined the gang in middle school to fit in, and these guys had become his brothers.
“I was scrawny back then and when I was with those guys I thought nothing could touch me,” Gonzalas said.
And nothing did until Oct. 12, 2000. That was the day Gonzalas was caught trying to rob the pawn shop, handcuffed and taken to jail for three weeks until he met with a judge.
“I knew when I looked into his eyes he knew things were going to have to change,” said Anthony’s mother, Maria Gonzalas.
And they did. After two years in the gang, Gonzalas told his friends he would be leaving. This was the ultimate betrayal of his gang and his former friends would not let him forget that. For over a year Gonzalas was harassed and his home was frequently vandalized. But when Gonzalas started to focus on school and the gang left him alone.
“To this day we don’t know why they stopped harassing my son, but whatever the reason is I know we are lucky,” Maria Gonzalas said. “Police and counselors all have said many kids who get into gangs are not able to leave like Anthony did.”
Police Chief Jerry Garner said that gangs in Greeley have become worse over the years, and in response to this Greeley Police have formed the Greeley Gang Task Force. The task force consists of five officers who are specifically assigned to work on gang crimes.
“The task force has only been up and running for a little while now, but I know we are making headway,” Garner said.
Anthony Gonzalas has come a long way from a former gang member to full-time student, but it was not easy.
“I can’t imagine being the person I was a few years ago. I still have a long way to go, but I wouldn’t trade my life today for anything in world,” Gonzalas said. “I just hope that people who hear my story can start understand the dangers of gangs and how easy it was for a kid to get sucked into one.”
