WOODLAND — No one, not even his own lawyer, disputes that Sergio Alvarez is a disgrace to the West Sacramento police force.
But whether the former patrol officer used his power of authority to sexually assault multiple women, or whether he engaged in consensual sex while on the job, is now for a Yolo County jury to decide.
Alvarez, 38, faces 27 felony charges, including aggravated kidnapping and rape by duress and by use of authority, in connection with the alleged acts, which prosecutors say occurred between January and September of 2012 and targeted some of West Sacramento’s most vulnerable residents — prostitutes, drug addicts and alcoholics.
“We know these women were selected by Sergio Alvarez on the belief that they wouldn’t report it, and no one would believe them if they did,” Supervising Deputy District Attorney Garrett Hamilton told the seven-man, five-woman jury during closing arguments in Alvarez’s trial late last week.
The charges against Alvarez involve five alleged victims, but as many as six women levied allegations against the officer after the first alleged victim came forward in September 2012. Alvarez was arrested in February 2013 and later indicted by the Yolo County grand jury.
Alvarez, who testified in his own defense, contends that he had consensual sex with three of the women while he was on duty, but denied having any contact with the other two.
His attorney, J. Toney, acknowledged to the jury that, as taxpayers, “every one of you must feel cheated by Sergio Alvarez because it’s the tax dollars that pays him to keep the peace.”
“He was clearly using part of the time that he was on salary for sexual purposes — that has got to be offensive,” Toney said in his closing remarks. Outraged and embarrassed, the West Sacramento Police Department “threw the book at him,” the defense attorney theorized.
Alvarez has been jailed in lieu of $26.3 million bail since his arrest.
Authorities paint Alvarez as a rogue cop who targeted down-and-out women he encountered while patrolling the streets of West Sacramento during the pre-dawn hours, detaining them in his patrol car while checking for outstanding warrants in their names or accusing them of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“He’s asking her what she has to offer him so she won’t be taken to jail,” Hamilton said. From there, Alvarez allegedly drove the women to remote locations to engage in sexual activity.
Investigators later discovered Alvarez’s DNA in bodily fluids found both in his patrol car and in an alleyway where some of the alleged encounters took place, Hamilton said. The patrol car also contained genetic material belonging to one of his alleged victims.
Dispatch records confirmed that Alvarez ran several of the women’s names for warrants during the times they said the officer confronted them.
Hamilton also noted that Alvarez failed to turn on his patrol-car camera during any of the alleged encounters, despite having been disciplined in the past for not videotaping other street contacts or reporting them to dispatchers as required.
“That’s because his intentions are nefarious, and he doesn’t want that on video,” the prosecutor said.
Toney, meanwhile, countered that it was the three consensual partners who made the first move with Alvarez, including one who testified in court that she enjoyed the relationship and did not consider herself a victim. One, he noted, gave Alvarez her phone number as the two of them parted ways.
“This is not a person who was traumatized,” Toney said. The other two women, he claimed, conspired to lie in order to benefit from a pending civil lawsuit filed against Alvarez following his arrest.
“What we’re dealing with in this case is five addicts — five addicts who have taken drugs to the point that what you think is common sense, isn’t,” Toney said. “I’m not saying addicts can’t be raped. I’m not saying prostitutes can’t be raped. I’m saying these women weren’t.”
Baloney, Hamilton said in his rebuttal argument.
“The defense in this case is saying all of these women are basically liars. Just ask yourself this,” he implored the jury. “What credible reason has been put forth explaining why all these women selected September and October 2012 to start telling big lies about Sergio Alvarez?”
Jurors received the case shortly before noon Friday and deliberated the remainder of the afternoon before breaking for the three-day weekend.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
