Where's Carlos Alvarez Jr.? UPDATED

In Dec. 2008, the Miami Herald's Joan Fleischman wrote about the release from prison of Carlos Alvarez Jr., who had served 13 ½ years for kidnapping and a series of violent sexual assaults he committed in 1994.

Alvarez Jr. isn't just any violent felon. He is the son of Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Alvarez Sr.

At the time of his arrest, Alvarez Jr's. father was an assistant chief with the Metro-Dade Police Dept.

Alvarez Jr. pleaded guilty and was rewarded with a relatively short sentence of 18 years in prison.

In 1995 the Herald's Manny Garcia wrote:

"Margaret Bisignani, assistant chief prosecutor with the sexual battery unit, explained the [plea] deal: 'The victims collectively had expressed a desire that they did not want to testify,' she said. 'Everyone just wanted an end.'

"He could have received up to 30 years under the plea agreement, life in prison if he had gone to trial and lost."

This story has for the most part been under-reported by the Miami media.

The Herald has printed a grand total of two stories on Alvarez, Jr.

In January of this year I updated my original post with information from FDLE's web site that revealed that Alvarez Jr. had moved since his release from prison.

I had pretty much considered the matter closed but yesterday someone left a comment on my January post.

Anonymous said...
"I am disgusted - I was one of the ones he tried to kidnap. I was 19 at the time. They railroaded us to agree to the plea. And no one bothered to call me up and give me a heads up that he was out. I thought I could count on at least that. Now I know he's just around the corner. Wonderful job Dade County."

Of course there's no way of knowing whether or not the comment was left by one of Alvarez Jr's. victims. But I'm inclined to believe it was.

It's pretty evident that this victim lives with the crime still fresh in her memory.

And that raises some troubling questions.

The commenter says she was "railroaded" into agreeing to the plea deal. I wonder if that would have been the case if Alvarez Jr. had not been the son of a high-ranking police officer.

And according to her, "no one bothered to call me up and give me a heads up that he was out."

Sounds like a story that needs some follow-up.

Anyone at Miami's only daily newspaper care to tackle this one?