A 20-year-old Bradenton woman found guilty in the July 2014 sex on Cortez Beach case must register as a sex offender, but will serve no more jail time.
A 12th Circuit Court judge meted out a sentence to Elissa Alvarez May 27 that included the sex-offender designation and withheld adjudication on one count of lewd and lascivious exhibition in view of a child.
Judge Gilbert A. Smith Jr. also credited time served and imposed court costs, $100 for prosecution and $200 for Bradenton Beach Police Department investigative costs.
Alvarez spent about 24 days in Manatee County jail after a jury returned a verdict May 4 in 15 minutes following several days of jury selection and trial, which included showing a video of the couple’s sexual encounter on the beach.
The sentence was recommended by Assistant State Attorney Anthony DaFonseca after being worked out with Alvarez’s new attorney, Gregory Hagopian, a day before the hearing expected to set a sentencing date for Alvarez and co-defendant and boyfriend, 40-year-old Jose Ben Caballero.
Caballero also was offered a deal in open court by the state — a two-and-half-year sentence recommendation.
Caballero’s attorney, Ron Kurpiers, said he’d likely agree to such a sentence, but was surprised by the offer and wanted time to discuss it with his client.
A July 6 sentencing hearing was set for Caballero.
Outside the courtroom, Hagopian said he was hired for Alvarez’s sentencing and to explore all options, including a possible appeal.
Asked about possible relief under the state’s Romeo and Juliet law that gives young lovers charged with sexual assault an option to petition judges for second chances, Hagopian said Alvarez isn’t eligible.
The law applies to offenders and victims who are closer in age, according to DaFonseca.
In this case, the victim was a 3-year-old, who, with family and visitors from Brandon and West Virginia, witnessed the couple having sex on the beach in Bradenton Beach.
Hagopian complained about application of the sex offender designation that lumps Alvarez with pedophiles and child molesters.
He acknowledged Alvarez made some poor choices, but “she now has to live with this the rest of her life … she has to report and has to be treated like a child molester,” he said.
DaFonseca said she deserved leniency as a first-time offender who was repentant after serving jail time.
The mandatory sex-offender registration is like probation, but harsher. If Alvarez does not comply with state-by-state, county-by-county registration laws, she faces future prosecution, according to DaFonseca.
“There were a lot of factors. We’re looking at a 20-year-old woman. We understand she was with a 40-year-old man. We understand there was drinking involved — we’re not making excuses for that. Everyone’s accountable for their own actions. But it was something we considered,” he said.
In pre-trial interviews, DaFonseca said he caught Alvarez lying and denying what was depicted on the video.
But, after monitoring her jail calls during the past month, DaFonseca said she’s been talking a lot with family and she has apparently “seen the light.”
“She is very relieved,” Hagopian said.
“This is somebody who’s had no contact with the criminal justice system. She comes from a very loving, God-fearing, church-going family who raised her well.
“You take somebody who is hardworking and who is a school person and all of sudden put them in jail for 30 days — it is shocking.”