Weston teen accused of attempted sexual battery to face adult charge

Anthony Gonzalez Tovar, 17, will face an adult attempted sexual battery charge in Broward County after prosecutors moved the Weston case out of juvenile court.

Broward Sheriff’s Office said surveillance video from the 16300 block of Golf Club Road on April 8 at about 4:39 p.m. showed the teen exposing himself, looking around, approaching a woman sitting on the grass and then grabbing her from behind before she fought back and he ran away.

Detectives announced the arrest on April 17 and identified the teen as Anthony Alejandro Gonzalez Tovar. Four days later, Judge Stacy Ross kept him in juvenile detention until at least May 8 after a brief Zoom hearing, and on May 6 prosecutors told the court they were working to charge him as an adult.

The July 7 update moves the case into Broward County’s 17th Judicial Circuit, where felony prosecutions are handled. Under Florida’s juvenile-transfer laws, some teenagers can be sent to criminal court, and once transferred they are generally treated as adults for later state-law violations unless juvenile sanctions are imposed.

That shift matters because it changes more than the label on the case. An adult filing brings the matter into the county’s felony system, increases the stakes if the charge is proved, and makes the proceedings more like any other serious criminal case in Broward rather than a juvenile detention matter.

For Weston families, the case is unsettling because the alleged encounter unfolded in daylight in a suburban public space, not behind closed doors. It also shows how surveillance footage can accelerate a case from an arrest at the Juvenile Assessment Center to a broader adult-court process, with the Broward County Main Jail becoming part of the path forward once prosecutors seek adult charges.

The charge now follows a clear sequence: the April 8 allegation, the April 17 arrest, the April 21 juvenile detention ruling, the May 6 push for adult prosecution and the July 7 adult-charge decision. In a county that treats felony cases through its 17th Judicial Circuit, the case is no longer being handled as a routine juvenile arrest.