Deputies say the El Paso County case began with a family violence call and ended with a drone seized from a car.

HORIZON CITY, Texas — A 26-year-old El Paso man is accused of stalking his former girlfriend, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer, after deputies say he followed her home and used a drone near her house May 23.

Cristobal Gonzalez faces one count each of stalking, theft of property and criminal trespass after an investigation by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. The case matters now because deputies say the alleged conduct involved both a past domestic relationship and technology used near a private home. Court records show Gonzalez was released after posting bond, while the complaint describes a victim who told deputies she feared the conduct would keep escalating.

The call came in as a family violence report in progress at about 7:40 a.m. at a home in the 600 block of Paseo Modesto Drive, near Eastlake Boulevard and Darrington Road in Horizon City. A deputy was told on the way that the woman inside was a CBP officer and had said she was armed. When the deputy arrived, Gonzalez was not there. The woman was hesitant to answer the door because she believed he might still be outside, according to the complaint. She was wearing her CBP duty uniform and crying when she spoke with the deputy. She said she and Gonzalez share a child but were no longer dating and that he did not live at the house.

The woman told deputies she had left work, picked up her son in West El Paso and driven home when she saw Gonzalez’s 2020 gray Cadillac CT5 parked outside. She pulled into the garage, and the garage door closed before he could get inside, according to the complaint. Gonzalez then went to the front door and knocked several times, deputies said. He allegedly removed a Ring doorbell camera from an outside wall. The woman called 911 after losing the camera feed because she feared he would try to enter and hurt her. She gathered her son, barricaded herself in a bedroom and grabbed her CBP-issued duty weapon in case Gonzalez forced entry, the complaint states.

Deputies later reviewed video the woman sent them. One clip allegedly showed Gonzalez arriving at the home and removing the Ring doorbell camera. Another video allegedly showed him getting out of his car, walking toward the front sidewalk and picking up a white drone whose propellers were still spinning. The complaint says the drone had not been visible on the sidewalk before Gonzalez arrived. A deputy wrote that, based on the full set of circumstances, the drone may have been used to watch or stalk the woman. Investigators also said surveillance footage showed Gonzalez using a drone to watch the house. The exact length of the alleged flight and what the drone recorded were not made clear in the public accounts of the case.

The complaint points to earlier contacts between deputies and the former couple. It lists a March 3 domestic violence call that was cleared as verbal only, with no further details given. It also lists a domestic criminal trespass incident that resulted in warrants being issued for Gonzalez. The woman told deputies there was an extensive history of family violence and criminal trespassing involving Gonzalez. She also said she feared for her life because of previous incidents. Those prior reports are important to the stalking charge because investigators described the May 23 allegations as part of a repeated pattern, not only a single confrontation at the front door.

Deputies went to a home in the 12000 block of Powick Drive near Horizon City at about 8:15 a.m. and found Gonzalez’s car there. They saw a white drone on the front passenger seat, according to the complaint. When deputies approached to speak with Gonzalez, he began emptying his pockets and said, “I already know,” the complaint states. Deputies placed him in handcuffs and put him in a patrol vehicle. After a deputy read him his Miranda rights, Gonzalez said, “I wish to plead the 5th,” according to the affidavit. Deputies said they later obtained a warrant for the vehicle and recovered the drone and a controller.

Gonzalez was taken to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Peter J. Herrera Patrol Station and placed in a holding cell. While there, deputies said he made an unsolicited statement that sharpened their concern about what might happen next. “I’ll be back, the laws are pointless,” Gonzalez allegedly told deputies. The complaint does not describe any further explanation for that statement. No attorney was listed for Gonzalez in the court records cited in reports on the case, and the allegations have not been proven in court. The woman requested that an emergency protective order be filed, but court records available in the reports did not show whether a judge granted one.

Gonzalez was booked into the El Paso County jail May 23 on the three charges. His bond was first set at $27,000. An El Paso County magistrate judge granted a bond reduction request at a May 25 hearing, lowering the amount to $15,000, court records show. The records did not identify which magistrate judge handled the bond reduction. Gonzalez posted bail and was released the same day, according to jail logs. A later report said his next court appearance was scheduled for July 1. The status of that hearing, any plea and any protective order were not made clear in the reports available on the case.

The home on Paseo Modesto Drive became the center of the investigation because the woman said the danger moved from a street sighting to the front door. The complaint describes her as a uniformed federal officer who still retreated to a bedroom with her child when the video feed went out. That detail placed the case in a setting familiar to many domestic violence calls: a home, a former partner, a child inside and a fear that an argument could become a forced entry. The drone added another layer, giving investigators a device they said may have been used before Gonzalez reached the front sidewalk.

For now, Gonzalez is out of jail on bond while the El Paso County case moves forward. Deputies have cited the doorbell footage, the recovered drone and controller, the woman’s statements, prior reports and Gonzalez’s alleged holding cell remark as part of the investigation. The next milestone is the court process following the scheduled July 1 appearance.

Author note: Last updated July 6, 2026.