A Solano County man likely will die in state prison after a judge on Thursday sentenced him to 170 years to life for sexually abusing two children.
Javier Mendez-Alvaro, 35, heard Judge Wendy Getty hand down the prison term during a morning hearing in Department 8 in the Justice Center in Fairfield, according to a press statement from the Solano County District Attorney’s Office.
After the sentencing, which followed a monthlong trial beginning in late June, the judge scheduled a restitution-setting hearing for 8:30 a.m. Oct. 31. It is unclear if Mendez-Alvaro will be required to attend.
In the meantime, he remains in custody on a holding order in the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield, where he awaits transfer to the California Department Corrections and Rehabilitation.
According to court records, in 2016 Mendez-Alvaro began molesting two family members who were 9 and 12 years old. The sexual abuse continued to escalate during a five-year period.
On June 13, 2021, the defendant texted the oldest victim, who, fearing she would be sexually abused again, contacted her relatives. They immediately called the police. The younger victim then started crying and disclosed the abuse that she also had suffered, according to the DA’s prepared statement.
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Fairfield police officers arrested Mendez-Alvaro on June 14, 2021, in the 1100 block of Texas Street. Two days later, Solano County DA’s Office filed a felony complaint, charging the defendant with sexual abuse against minors and an enhancement for abusing multiple victims.
At trial, the victims “bravely came forward and testified,” DA Krishna Abrams wrote in the prepared statement, issued late Thursday afternoon.
After deliberations, jurors on July 25 found Mendez-Alvaro guilty on all counts.
Fairfield Police Detective Bryan Hamilton investigated the case, and Deputy District Attorney Luke Leichty led the prosecution. Victim Witness Advocate Andrea Vela provided support to the victims.
Deputy Public Defender Sara Johnson represented Mendez-Alvaro.
“This case serves as a reminder of our office’s ongoing commitment to protect minors from abuse and to hold offenders accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Abrams, the county’s chief law enforcement officer, wrote in the statement.
Long an advocate for protecting victims of sexual crimes, Abrams urges anyone — or someone you may know — who has been a victim of sexual assault and need the assistance of an advocate to call (707) 784-6827.
