Who was Sterling Alavache?

Following a failed bank robbery at the Bank of America near the Bell Tower Shops, Lee County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that 36-year-old Sterling Ramon Alavache was the suspect.

As soon as this information was confirmed, WINK News investigators started looking into his background.

We found four Charlotte County arrest reports going back to January 2017.

One report says Alavache chased cars with a knife.

• RELATED: Bank robbery suspect had lengthy criminal history

And a TikTok page with a video including text that says, “Do not test my patience. Never put me in a position to show you just how cruel and ruthless I can be.”

We are now learning about what may have caused Alavache to lash out.

We learned that on September 11 of last year, he celebrated one year of being clean and sober from drugs.

We learned that he loved hanging out with his family and friends and being a source of strength for them during their own struggles, and we learned despite what we’ve learned about him over the last few days, he was loved and loved.

• RELATED: Bodycam footage of Bank of America hostage situation released

A Facebook post that Alavache’s friend Corey Sloan made on September 11, 2023, congratulated him on being one year clean and sober.

“He cared about people. He had a big heart. He was always trying to make people do the right thing,” Sloan said.

Less than a year later, he had to read in the news how his friend whom he calls his brother lost his life.

“I had an accident a couple years ago; I had a heart attack, so, my feet on rocks, I would fall and stuff and he’d always be the first one to help and be like ‘come with me.’ It’s just things like that that just made him to me, just not the guy that I’ve seen on the news,” Sloan said.

If you scroll through Alavache’s Facebook posts around November of last year, you can’t help but notice the various bible scriptures.

“He was big on the bible. He talked about it all the time, read about it all the time,” Sloan said.

Sloan admits Alavache wasn’t perfect and struggled with drug use like him.

Other friends said he also struggled with mental health issues.

Sloan and Alavache connected through Charlotte Behavioral Services and Justin’s Place Recovery Program, and Sloan said you always knew when Alavache was in the room.

“Big in the rooms of AA and NA. A lot of people knew him and liked him. Just a good guy,” Sloan said.

Now to know Alavache won’t be in any other room again is painful for Sloan, and he has this last message he wants to share.

“I love him and I am truly sorry for everything that happened to the people involved, but I really wish somehow one day they could overlook that and maybe forgive him,” Sloan said.

Another friend sent WINK a statement saying he struggled with his mental health and drugs, but he was a vibrant person, and when he was clean, he was the happiest person in the room.