Person of interest in Diana Alvarez case faces child pornography charge

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Jorge Guerrero-Torres, who was at the center of an Amber Alert for Diana Alvarez, faced a federal judge on Monday for a child pornography charge.

Federal prosecutors allege multiple images of child pornography were found on a phone belonging to Guerrero-Torres.

Authorities have not said if the pictures are of Alvarez, 9, who remains missing.

Guerrero-Torres, 28,  remained in the Lee County jail Monday with no bond due to an immigration hold.

Tracked cell phone

Investigators from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office were first notified of Alvarez’ disappearance on May 29 after her mother found her missing from their home on the 3500 block of Unique Circle near San Carlos Park.

Guerrero-Torres and his brother had recently moved from the home, according to a federal criminal complaint.

Family members previously said Alvarez was very attached to Guerrero-Torres, who at one time rented a room in their home.

Detectives talked with Guerrero-Torres, who said he moved to Orlando. He also gave investigators his cell phone number.

Authorities used the phone number to track its whereabouts. Records showed the phone traveled from Orlando to the Fort Myers area on the day before Alvarez was reported missing. After leaving Fort Myers during the early morning hours of May 29, the phone was tracked to Okeechobee, then toward Yeehaw Junction, then back to Okeechobee before returning to Orlando, court documents said.

“Records confirmed that at the time Guerrero-Torres’ cellular telephone was in the area of (Alvarez’ home), there was communication between the cellular used by the household residents, including the minor child, and the cellular phone admittedly utilized by Guerrero-Torres,” the complaint said. “It appeared the content of the message was deleted from the cellular telephone.”

Alvarez has not been heard from since the aforementioned communication, the documents said.

Suspect denial

Guerrero-Torres was taken into custody on June 3 and detained “as a result of his lack of lawful immigration status in the United States.”

He was not in possession of the cell phone when apprehended.

Guerrero-Torres told investigators he was not in Lee County prior to Alvarez’ disappearance, and that his vehicle broke down while traveling from Orlando to Okeechobee.

Guerrero-Torres’ cell phone was tracked to Daytona, where detectives found another man possessed the phone. That man told investigators he found the cell phone in high grass while working as a landscaper in Orange County.

The phone was locked, but the landscaper said a man named Jorge called it and told him to keep it, according to documents.

Pornographic pictures of a child were found during a forensic examination of the phone, according to documents.

Investigators have yet to determine the female child in the pictures.