Texas Rep Tony Gonzales gave mistress massive salary bump while having affair

A new report has revealed that the office of US Congressman Tony Gonzales gave aide Regina Santos-Aviles, who died in 2025 after setting herself on fire, a 26 percent salary boost and thousands in additional compensation in 2024, the same year she allegedly had an affair with the lawmaker.

Per the Uvalde Leader-News, while Santis-Aviles served as Gonzales’ regional district director between December 2021 and her September 14 death, her yearly base salary ranged from $47,500 to $68,000. Her quarterly pay increased from just under $12,000 to $13,500 between 2022 and 2023, and then jumped to $17,000 in 2024, with a $3,200 bonus and over $1,500 in "personnel" or "other" compensation.

The outlet noted that "three individuals on Gonzales’ payroll held the same title, and none of them received comparable raises to Santos-Aviles or reached her peak salary."

In September, Santos-Aviles set herself on fire at her Uvalde home. She died several hours later at a San Antonio hospital. Her husband, Adrian Aviles, and an unnamed former Gonzales staffer came forward in February 2025 to say that Santos-Aviles had an affair with the congressman the year before, with the husband saying the affair was the reason the couple was calling it quits. He said this caused Santis-Aviles to start "spiraling."

He said he found out about the affair at the end of May in 2024, and that Gonzales’ office tried to "make her quit" and severed communication with her. She did not receive a bonus or raise in 2025 like she had in prior years.

A police report obtained by the New York Post stated that Santos-Aviles had told first responders after she set herself on fire that her estranged husband had been having an affair with "her best friend."

The report from a police officer stated, "Upon arrival, I observed a female subject lying on the front porch with severe burn injuries covering her body. The female subject was identified as Regina Santos Aviles. 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." In another report, an officer wrote that Santos-Aviles "stated her husband is gay and is having an affair with her best friend."

Adrian denied the claims. "Those allegations are completely false." He said that the best friend in question is female and "is also my childhood friend, and there was no sexual relation between the two of us."

He told authorities in the aftermath of the incident that his wife had been "taking antidepressants and consuming alcohol regularly, sometimes mixing the two." He claimed to the Post that she had been a "mentally sane person before all of this."

However, police records showed that a friend had told officers Santos-Aviles had "possibly been to a mental health hospital in her teenage years," and a detective wrote, "When asked about Regina’s history, Mr. Aviles advised that Regina had previously made self-harm threats. He described a prior incident where Regina contacted him while pointing a firearm at her own head."

The detective added, "Mr. Aviles reported that their son could be heard screaming for his mother during that incident, and police were dispatched to that location. Mr. Aviles was unable to provide an exact date for this prior incident." He said that on the night Santis-Aviles fatally injured herself, her husband had received a text message "informing him that Regina had sent a video of herself pouring gasoline on her body."