Officials: Accused cop-killer had affair with LI prison guard

A prison guard from Long Island at the federal lockup in Brooklyn is pregnant after she had a sexual affair inside jail with Ronell Wilson, the convicted cop-killer from Staten Island who is facing the death penalty, authorities charged on Tuesday.

Wilson, 30, of Staten Island, was found guilty in 2006 of murdering NYPD cops James Nemorin of Baldwin Harbor and Rodney Andrews of Middle Village during a 2003 undercover drug buy. His death sentence was overturned, and he is being held in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting a new penalty trial this year.

The guard, Nancy Gonzalez, 29, was arrested at her home in Huntington on Tuesday morning and was scheduled to appear in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday afternoon. Officials said she is eight months pregnant.

The criminal complaint filed in court said that in a recorded call Gonzalez told another inmate who she has become involved with that she participated in an affair with Wilson at a time when she was "vulnerable and wanted to be loved" and "felt like, well, why not give him a child as far as giving him some kind of hope."

In a footnote, the complaint said Gonzalez told the other inmate that it was possible that her baby was fathered by a different man. But she allegedly said the father was most likely Wilson because she was "more careful" with the other man and only had sex with him once, whereas she had intercourse with Wilson "over the course of three weekends during which the sole purpose was to impregnate her."

The criminal complaint never names Wilson, identifying him as "Inmate 1." But it describes him as an inmate from Staten Island who is on death row and awaiting a retrial on his penalty phase. Officials said "Inmate 1" is used to reference Wilson."

The complaint said officials were first alerted by other inmates to an "inappropriate relationship" involving Gonzalez and Wilson. Inmates allegedly saw them "kissing and hugging" and on one occasion saw Wilson with his pants down.

The two allegedly had sex in Wilson's cell and in a vacant activity room in the general population unit where he was housed. Gonzalez worked the 4 to midnight shift. Last August, Wilson was moved to the more secure Special Housing Unit when officials heard about the affair.

The complaint also quoted Gonzalez musing in the recorded conversation about how she would explain to her unborn child what had happened.

"I can't explain it. I know what's to come. I know what's going to be said about me," she allegedly said. "I know that for me as a parent, how am I going to explain this to this little boy. Mommy was in the military. Mommy was a C.O., Mommy got wrapped up . . .then the opposite end is with a person who took lives. So how do you explain that?"

Gonzalez was charged under a federal statute that prohibits sex between guards and inmates, who cannot legally consent because of the official power a guard holds over them. She faces up to 15 years in prison.

At a hearing last year, lawyers for Wilson argued that he is mentally disabled and cannot be executed under rulings of the Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis has not yet ruled on that claim.