Prosecution testimony got underway Thursday in the trial of a 67-year-old Palm Desert man accused of sexually abusing three children distantly related to him.
Oscar William Alvarez is charged with six counts of lewd acts on a minor and one count each of oral copulation of a child, forcible sodomy of an underage person, annoying a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor with sentence-enhancing allegations of victimizing more than one person in sex crimes.
The prosecution and defense delivered opening statements Wednesday at the Banning Justice Center, where the first witnesses summoned Thursday in the courtroom of Riverside County Superior Court Judge Samuel Diaz.
Alvarez is being held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center in Indio.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, the defendant allegedly targeted his niece by marriage, identified in court documents only as “D.E.,” as well as her brother, identified as “B.E.,” and a step-grandchild identified as “E.B.” The alleged molestations and related acts occurred mainly in the 2010s, the brief stated.
All of the allegations surfaced in 2023.
Prosecutors alleged B.E., who is now an adult and suffers from an undisclosed psychological disorder that affects his speech, was first molested at the age 16. The victim told sheriff’s detectives that on a visit to Alvarez’s house, the defendant offered to give him a massage and asked him to remove his clothes. Alvarez situated himself behind the youth “and began to hump and thrust,” court papers alleged.
“During this time … the defendant’s penis entered B.E.’s anus three times,” according to the brief, adding that the minor endured the assault for a minute or so before he got away from Alvarez.
On another occasion, several years later, the defendant asked B.E. to visit him and gave the teenager Jack Daniels whisky to drink, the brief alleged.
While the teen was getting inebriated, Alvarez got dressed in women’s clothing and applied makeup, before returning to where B.E. was sitting and presenting himself, according to the document.
“B.E. was frightened and told him to go change his clothes and take him home,” the narrative stated. The defendant complied.
The first victim to come forward was D.E., who alleged that when she was 5 years old, Alvarez sexually abused her on multiple occasions, usually while babysitting. In one instance, the girl was lying on a bed resting when he entered the room and rubbed her privates to arouse himself, stopping only when her brother — E.B. — walked into the house, prosecutors alleged.
She also told investigators that he allegedly groped her in his vehicle, and liked to place her on top of him, according to court papers.
There were other similar encounters with Alvarez when the girl was 5, the brief stated.
E.B. alleged that he was abused around the same period, though he was 6 years old.
According to he prosecution, on at least 10 separate occasions, Alvarez allegedly groped the victim’s privates and rubbed his buttocks, always while babysitting.
E.B. and his sister are now in their teens. B.E. is in his mid-20s.
Alvarez has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.