Florida Couple in ‘Sex on the Beach’ Case Found Guilty, Must Register as Sex Offenders
Jose Cabellero, 40, and Elissa Alvarez, 20, must register as sex offenders and could each be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
A frisky Florida couple caught on camera having sex on a crowded family-friendly beach was found guilty Monday of lewd and lascivious exhibition — and now must register as sex offenders.
The randy pair — 40-year-old Jose Caballero and 20-year-old Elissa Alvarez — could each be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison, reported NBC affiliate WFLA.
State prosecutors said they plan to seek a harsher sentence against Caballero because he served time for a prior cocaine-trafficking conviction. A sentencing date was not immediately announced.
The risque romp on Cortez Beach in Bradenton last July garnered local attention as the “Sex on the Beach” case.
A grandmother who testified at the trial against Caballero and Alvarez caught the afternoon delight on her iPhone. She said Monday her then-3-year-old granddaughter was among the children who got a live lesson on the birds and the bees.
“(The child) wanted me to explain what they were doing,” testified April Champ, according to the Bradenton Herald. “I redirected her and we looked at seashells.”
Bradenton Police Officer Eric Hill, who responded to the scene, said the turned-on twosome claimed they were merely “cuddling and wrestling.”
“This isn’t an after-hours disco that people can use for a garbage can,” Hill told WFLA on Monday. “This is the root of family.”
Florida couple found guilty of having sex on beach in front of families
A Florida couple faces up to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of having sex on a beach in public.
Jose Caballero, 40, and Elissa Alvarez, 20, were found guilty on two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior on Monday after the couple had been spotted having sex in public on Bradenton Beach near Tampa, Fla. on July 20, 2014.
Video played during the trial showing Alvarez moving on top of Caballero in a sexual manner in the middle of the day, according to the Bradenton Herald. Witnesses said that a 3-year-old girl had seen the couple engaging in the sexual activity.
Caballero and Alvarez will now be required to register as sex offenders. After the trial ended, family members expressed their support of the couple.
“He’s a great person,” Caballero’s mother told the Bradenton Herald, declining to give her name. “There are other things out there we need to worry about, and they’re still loose, people who have done worse stuff.”
“She’s an 18-year-old woman, with a 40-year-old man,” Carlos Alvarez, Elissa Alvarez’s father, told Bradenton Herald. “I always say women can be better than men…but they fall in love, and they make a lot of mistakes.”
The defense argued that the couple weren’t actually having sex but that Alvarez had been dancing on top of Caballero or “nudging” him to wake up. The prosecution struck down the claim that the Alvarez had been dancing on top of Caballero.
“She wasn’t dancing,” Assistant State Attorney Anthony Dafonseca said. “It’s insulting your intelligence to say that she was dancing.”
“Did they try to cuddle, or do it discreetly? Did they go in the water, where people couldn’t see?” state attorney Ed Brodsky asked the jury. “Did Ms. Alvarez try to drape a towel over herself, or anything? They didn’t care.”
A sentencing date has yet to be announced. According to the ABC Action News, the convictions carry a sentence of up to 15 years.
Couple caught having sex on a Florida beach face 15 years in prison
AN OVERLY amorous couple caught having sex on a Florida beach in front of children face a hefty penalty: 15 years in prison.
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May 5, 2015 – 4:53PMNews Corp Australia
00:15 / 02:23
Overly amorous couple caught having sex on Florida beach face time in prison
AN OVERLY amorous couple caught having sex on a Florida beach faces a hefty penalty for their daylight…more
AN OVERLY amorous couple caught having sex on a Florida beach faces a hefty penalty for their daylight tryst: 15 years in prison.
According to the Miami Herald, a jury took just 15 minutes to convict Jose Caballero, 40, and Elissa Alvarez, 20, on two counts of lewd and lascivious behaviour.
The evidence was damning: Witnesses, including a three-year-old girl, saw Alvarez mounting Caballero in broad daylight and their love-making was caught on video.
Caught on camera … Jose Caballero, 40, and Elissa Alvarez, 20, were filmed having sex on a beach. Picture: WTVT
Another bystander called the cops.
“Yeah, they think it’s a joke,” a woman watching the scene told a police dispatcher, according to a police call released by Manatee County police.
“It’s very disgusting. He just took her top off. There’s a child here.”
The raunchy clip was also shown in the courtroom during the trial, which lasted little more than a day.
Assistant State Attorney Anthony Dafonseca told the Miami Herald that he would be pursuing a harsh sentence for Caballero as he has been previously convicted for cocaine trafficking. Alvarez has no police record.
The couple had rejected a plea-bargain, Dafonseca said, “Despite the video, despite all the witnesses.”
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Witnesses did not state they had seen genitalia or penetration and the video was also unclear. The suggestion the two were engaged in a sex act was therefore “speculation,” the defence argued.
Defence lawyers argued Alvarez had in fact been “dancing” on Caballero to wake him up.
Dafonesca rejected the excuse: “It’s insulting your intelligence to say that she was dancing.”
The State Attorney said it was important to send a message that sex would not be tolerated on public beaches.
“We’re dealing with basically tourists, that came from Brandon and Riverview and West Virginia, and they’re here on the beaches of Manatee County, our public beaches,” he said.
“So you want to make sure that this isn’t something that just goes by the wayside. And that it is well known to the community, what will be tolerated and what won’t be.”
Caballero and Alvarez will have to register as sex offenders.
