Man linked to Diana Alvarez faces molestation, battery charges

FORT MYERS, Fla. Jorge Guerrero faces additional charges related to Diana Alvarez, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

The sheriff’s office is recommending charges of lewd or lascivious molestation and battery of a child for Guerrero, 29, who was sentenced Monday to 40 years for producing and possessing pornographic images of the missing San Carlos Park girl.

“This monster will spend the next four decades of his life in prison,” Lee County Undersheriff Carmine Marceno said. “And I stand here today to tell you that we are doing everything possible, and devoting every resource possible, to locating Diana and bringing closure to her family.”

WINK News livestreamed the sheriff’s office announcement on Facebook:

“Our investigation leaves us confident that Jorge Guerrero played a role in Diana’s disappearance,” Marceno said.

Probable cause existed for Lee County Sheriff’s deputies to arrest Guerrero on kidnapping charges shortly after she went missing last year, court documents showed. Guerrero was also named in the AMBER Alert for Diana, but neither Guerrero nor anyone else has been charged for her disappearance.

Diana’s family believes Guerrero, a former friend, has information on the whereabouts of the girl, who was 9 years old when she was last seen on May 29, 2016, at her home on Unique Circle.

Rita Hernandez, Diana’s mother, cried and screamed as Monday’s sentencing took place, demanding Guerrero look at her and tell her where her daughter is.

Guerrero once lived at the same home as Diana’s family but moved out prior to her disappearance.

“We are certain that Jorge Guerrero sexually abused Diana Alvarez when he lived at that residence,” Marceno said.

Volunteer crews renewed a search earlier this year of areas around the home, and in Okeechobee, Moore Haven and Indiantown, points along the path Guerrero is believed to have taken after the girl’s disappearance.

Lee County deputies returned to a site near Yeehaw Junction in April that they previously searched in June, shortly after her disappearance.

But both efforts, like the initial searches in the days after she went missing, came up empty.

“Sheriff Mike Scott and our team are dedicated to continuing to try to locate Diana Alvarez and committed to finding closure for her family,” Marceno said.

Guerrero was transferred from Charlotte County Jail to Lee County Jail to face the new charges against him.

WINK News reporter Kim Powell spoke with a forensic expert about what could be next: