District Attorney Collin Sims reports that on September 20, 2024, a St. Tammany Parish jury deliberated for approximately 2 hours before finding 69-year-old Otto Alfaro of Slidell guilty of the first degree rape and the molestation of a young girl. Assistant District Attorney Zachary Popovich with the Special Victims Unit of the DA’s Office and Assistant District Attorney Angelina Valuri prosecuted the case. Judge William H. Burris presided over the five-day trial. Now retired Detective Hugh Davis headed the investigation for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office. In 2019, a nonunanimous jury had convicted Alfaro on both charges. A year later, after the United States Supreme Court ruled nonunanimous verdicts unconstitutional, the original jury verdict was vacated and the matter had to be tried again.
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According to testimony during last week’s trial, the then-9-year-old girl confided in a fellow classmate at her Slidell elementary school in January, 2016, that she was being touched inappropriately. The classmate then told his father, who promptly alerted school officials, who in turn contacted authorities.
Detective Davis arranged for the girl to be taken to the Children’s Advocacy Center’s Hope House in Covington for a forensic interview. There, the young girl explained to interviewer JoBeth Rickels that Otto Alfaro, her grandmother’s live-in boyfriend, had been touching her inappropriately for several years. On some occasions, he also would make her put on heavy makeup, wear extremely tight clothing, and dance in front of him.
As the investigation progressed, the girl’s grandmother, who was also her legal guardian, agreed she would not allow Alfaro to return to the residence or have any contact with the young girl. In April, 2016, a staff member at the girl’s school noticed when the girl came to school one morning, she was upset about something. When questioned, the child revealed her grandmother had forced her to talk to Alfaro on the phone so he could apologize. She also said she saw Alfaro’s truck at their house that morning and was scared he had returned. When the police confronted the grandmother, she acknowledged she had disregarded the instructions given to her. She said she had no intentions of ending her relationship with Alfaro and she wanted to surrender the girl to state custody. The girl was immediately placed into foster care. After eluding authorities for several months, Alfaro was located and arrested in May of 2016. Molestation charges were filed by the DA’s Office and the case was scheduled for trial. When prosecutors met with the young girl during trial preparations, she made disclosures of more extensive sexual abuse. The acts she described to prosecutors amounted to first degree rape under Louisiana law. Consequently, the case was presented to a grand jury and Alfaro was indicted for first degree rape in addition to the previous molestation charge.
During the week-long trial, witnesses who testified included the now teenage girl, her elementary school principal from 2016, JoBeth Rickels from Hope House, a pediatric sexual abuse expert affiliated with Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, an investigator with the Department of Children and Family Services, and Detective Hugh Davis.
After prosecutors completed their presentation of testimony and evidence, the defendant took the stand. He claimed he did nothing inappropriate with the young girl and called her a liar. The girl’s grandmother also testified. Even though she previously acknowledged to police in 2016 that she forced the girl to speak to the defendant so he could apologize, she now claimed that never happened.
Following conclusion of the trial testimony, prosecutors and defense counsel made closing arguments to the jury. ADA Angelina Valuri chastised defense for trivializing the trial by calling it “a bunch of nonsense.” Valuri announced “let’s get back to reality.” She told jurors they shouldn’t be distracted by the girl’s delay in disclosing the abuse or her later divulgence of more extensive abuse. She emphasized the importance of the testimony from the pediatric sexual abuse expert which dispelled widespread myths regarding disclosure of sexual abuse. The expert explained it is common for sexual assault victims to delay reporting sexual abuse, sometimes waiting years to tell someone. The expert also explained that when victims ultimately do disclose abuse, it is not only normal but expected for them to later disclose additional details about the extent and nature of the abuse.
During his closing arguments, defense counsel repeatedly called the victim a “liar” and said her ever-changing “story” was proof of that. He urged the jury to acquit the defendant.
In the State’s rebuttal closing argument, ADA Zachary Popovich pointed out how the girl was particularly vulnerable due to her parents being absent from her life. He spoke about how she desperately needed a parental figure she could trust and rely on but instead of being that person, the defendant seized on her vulnerability and betrayed her trust. Popovich challenged defense’s claim that the girl lied, noting defense suggested no motive for her to lie. Popovich said when the girl disclosed the abuse, she “lost everything,” including being dumped into foster care and being bounced from home to home. But despite the negative consequences of telling, the young girl never retracted her complaint of abuse. In summation, Popovich cast Alfaro as not only a child rapist but also a thief. While standing before the defendant and pointing at him, Popovich exclaimed “That man stole her childhood, her home, her family, and her ability to feel safe.” He exhorted the jury to hold the defendant accountable.
Judge Burris set Alfaro’s sentencing for October 7th. First degree rape carries a mandatory life sentence and molestation carries a sentence of 25 to 99 years in prison.
