Rapist sentenced to 75 years for 2009 assault

Convicted rapist Aaron Alvarez will have to serve 30 years before he would be eligible for parole on this conviction. Convicted rapist Aaron Alvarez will have to serve 30 years before he would be eligible for parole on this conviction. Photo: Robin Jerstad, For The San Antonio Express-News Photo: Robin Jerstad, For The San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Rapist sentenced to 75 years for 2009 assault 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

San Antonio – A serial rapes defendant accused of using social media to lure young women to a filthy Helotes home he shared with his grandmother, where he allegedly held them captive in his bedroom, was handed three 75-year sentences Tuesday.

Aaron T. Alvarez, 25, was also ordered by jurors in the 379th state District Court to pay $30,000 in fines.

The sentences, which will be served concurrently, all related to a single accuser who said Alvarez raped her multiple times one night in November 2009.

Alvarez is awaiting trial in two other aggravated sexual assault cases involving women who say they were raped in 2010 and 2011, while he was free on bond. If Alvarez is convicted in those cases, the sentences could potentially be stacked on top of his current term.

Jurors returned the sentences several hours after Alvarez's third alleged victim took the witness stand. Unlike the two other women, who said they were meeting Alvarez for the first time after he contacted them through the telephone service QuestChat, the 2011 accuser said she was an escort who had placed an online sex ad.

Had everything gone smoothly, she would have willingly had sex with Alvarez in exchange for $160, she said. But he instead called her a racial epithet, and when she tried to leave he wrestled her away from his barricaded door, she said. He then threatened to shoot her if she didn't stop screaming, she said.

“He kind of said, 'Go ahead and call the cops,' I was a prostitute and they wouldn't believe me,” she said, explaining that she couldn't call his bluff because he had taken her phone battery. “He (said he) wouldn't be in trouble. His family would take him out (of jail). They had money.”

He then threatened to “bash” her head if she didn't take off her shorts, she said. Moments later, police knocked on his door as he was having sex with her and she screamed and ran, she said.

Alvarez's grandmother appeared to be home during all three of the incidents, witnesses said, describing the home as having such a strong odor of feces that Animal Care Services investigators were also called.

Alvarez, who is 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds, specifically targeted women who listed their height on their telephone or online profiles as at least a foot shorter, prosecutors Lorina Rummel and Jan Ischy said during closing arguments.

Brutalizing and raping a woman who would have had sex with him willingly shows a disturbing escalation of violence, they suggested.

“Please, keep us safe,” Rummel implored as she asked for life sentences. “Keep him off our streets.”

Defense attorneys Scott Simpson and Maritza Perez-Stewart asked for 20-year terms, pointing out that none of Alvarez's accusers was seriously injured.

Jurors deliberated the sentencing verdict for about an hour and a half. Alvarez will have to serve at least 30 years before he will be eligible to apply for parole.

ckapitan@express-news.net