A congressional aide who allegedly engaged in an extramarital affair with Republican Rep.
Tony Gonzales received a substantial pay increase and extra compensation in 2024, the same year her personal life and mental health reportedly began to unravel before she died by self-immolation in 2025.
According to The Post Millennial, financial records show that the office of the Texas congressman boosted the compensation of regional district director Regina Santos-Aviles by 26 percent in 2024, even as her colleagues in similar roles saw no comparable raises. The Uvalde Leader-News reported that while Santos-Aviles served in Gonzales office from December 2021 until her death on September 14, 2025, her annual base salary rose from $47,500 to $68,000, with her quarterly pay moving from just under $12,000 to $13,500 between 2022 and 2023, then jumping to $17,000 in 2024, alongside a $3,200 bonus and more than $1,500 in "personnel" or "other" compensation.
The local outlet further 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." Such a disparity inevitably raises questions about whether taxpayer-funded staff budgets were being used appropriately, particularly in light of the allegations of an improper relationship between the congressman and his aide.
In September 2025, Santos-Aviles set herself on fire at her home in Uvalde, later dying at a San Antonio hospital after suffering catastrophic burns. Her husband, Adrian Aviles, and an unnamed former Gonzales staffer came forward in February 2025, alleging that Santos-Aviles had engaged in an affair with the congressman the previous year, with Adrian stating that the infidelity was the reason the couple was separating and that the situation caused his wife to start "spiraling."
Adrian said he discovered the alleged affair at the end of May 2024 and claimed that Gonzales office subsequently tried to "make her quit" and cut off communication with her. Unlike prior years, Santos-Aviles did not receive a raise or bonus in 2025, suggesting a sharp reversal in her standing within the office after the relationship reportedly came to light.
A police report obtained by the New York Post indicated that, after setting herself on fire, Santos-Aviles told first responders that her estranged husband had been unfaithful with "her best friend." The official narrative from one responding 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 a separate report, another officer recorded that Santos-Aviles "stated her husband is gay and is having an affair with her best friend." Adrian has firmly rejected those accusations, insisting that the woman in question is a female "childhood friend" and that "there was no sexual relation between the two of us."
Adrian told authorities that his wife had been "taking antidepressants and consuming alcohol regularly, sometimes mixing the two." He later told the Post that she had been a "mentally sane person before all of this," implying that the alleged affair with Gonzales and the subsequent fallout marked a turning point in her mental state.
Police records, however, suggest a longer history of instability, with one friend telling officers that Santos-Aviles had "possibly been to a mental health hospital in her teenage years." A detective wrote, "When asked about Reginas 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 same 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." On the night Santos-Aviles fatally injured herself, Adrian reportedly received a text message "informing him that Regina had sent a video of herself pouring gasoline on her body," a final, harrowing act that now intersects with serious questions about professional ethics, mental health, and the stewardship of public funds in a congressional office entrusted with serving Texas families.
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