An East Chicago woman got one year on probation Thursday after a prosecutor conceded they couldn’t prove child molesting charges from more than a decade ago.
Stephanie Alvarado, 35, pleaded guilty Feb. 20 to battery on a person under 14 years of age.
Her child molesting trial ended in mistrial in November after a detective misattributed an answer during his testimony.
Defense lawyer Josh Malher said the plea was “appropriate.”
Deputy Prosecutor Diayan Rajamohan said the plea deal was “evidence-based,” but admitted it was what they could prove.
Alvarado apologized in court briefly “for the situation.”
The victim told East Chicago Police that Alvarado’s now ex-boyfriend, Andres Guerra, molested her in two separate homes starting when she was 10 or 11, around 2013, which began with Guerra touching her inappropriately as she slept, an affidavit alleges.
Court documents alleged Alvarado later joined in the abuse, which stopped in 2015.
In exchange for her plea, prosecutors agreed to drop the child molesting charges.
Guerra, Alvarado’s ex-boyfriend, was sentenced to 80 years in November after he was convicted of two counts of child molesting.
Guerra’s lawyer argued previously that the victim made up the accusations after an alleged fist fight with Alvarado on Oct. 30, 2015. Alvarado pleaded guilty in that case and got one year on probation.
At his sentencing, his wife Mellissa Guerra, a Hammond school board member, said she hoped one day he would be “exonerated.”
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