Regina Santos-Aviles died after setting herself on fire behind her Uvalde home in September, local authorities said. Gonzales is facing online pressure to resign.
SAN ANTONIO — More than a year before a congressional aide to U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales died by self-immolation, he sent her an early morning text asking her to “send me a sexy pic,” according to cell phone records provided to KENS 5.
Gonzales sent Regina Santos-Aviles other lewd messages, those records show, including texts asking her about her favorite sexual positions. The text messages were provided to KENS 5 by Santos-Aviles’ estranged husband, Adrian Aviles.
“I’m just such a visual person,” Gonzales texted Santos-Aviles, who was married at the time, at 12:27 a.m. on May 9, 2024.
“This is going too far boss,” she messaged him later in the conversation, when Gonzales texted about a sexual fantasy involving Santos-Aviles.
When Gonzales pried about other sex acts, Santos-Aviles texted again: “This is too far, Tony.”
The texts shed new light into the nature of the relationship between the Republican congressman and his aide amid allegations from the attorney now representing her husband that Gonzales and Santos-Aviles had an affair. Adrian Aviles learned of the alleged affair in 2024, his lawyer said, after looking at her phone.
Gonzales first responded to rumors of an affair with Santos-Aviles after she died outsider her Uvalde home last September, sparking a Texas Rangers investigation; officials ruled she died by suicide when she set herself on fire. Two months later, during an appearance at the Texas Tribune Festival, he blasted the rumors as “completely untruthful.”
“Regina’s family has asked for privacy. If it was your family or any of our families, I would argue that you would want privacy as well,” Gonzales said on Nov. 13. “I don’t know exactly what happened. I’m waiting for a final report, I think that would make a lot of sense. But I would like everyone to remember Regina for all the wonderful things that she did for our community.”
Now, with the March 3 primary looming and Gonzales up for reelection, the congressman is facing renewed scrutiny and calls on social media to resign. He indirectly addressed the latest reports in a Sunday morning post on X in which he blasted “coordinated political attacks.”
“IT WONT WORK,” Gonzales wrote, a few days after posting on X that “I WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED.”
Gonzales also blamed his primary opponent, Brandon Herrera, for “using a disgruntled former staffer to smear her memory and score political points,” referring to previous news reports centered an ex-staffer in Gonzales’ office.
Meanwhile, he’s continued to call for the public release of the Uvalde police report into Santos-Aviles’ Sept. 13. death. Local authorities had said from the early stages of the investigation that there were no indications of foul play in her death.
According to new documents tied to the investigation, a Uvalde PD officers responded to Santos-Aviles’ home and found her “with severe burn injuries covering her body.”
“(Santos-Aviles) stated she discovered her husband was cheating on her with her best friend, and as a result, she poured gasoline on herself and set herself on fire,” the report states. Investigators later obtained footage that showed her “pouring gasoline onto her chest area.”
According to LinkedIn, Santos-Aviles had worked for Gonzales, whose district includes San Antonio and Uvalde, since 2021.
Among the texts released by Adrian Aviles’ attorney was a question Santos-Aviles posed to Gonzales: “Please tell me you didn’t just hire me because I was hot”
Gonzales’ response: “No way.”