Guy Who Had Sex on Beach Learns His Fate

Jose Caballero, 40, is sentenced by Florida judge
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 6, 2015 3:30 PM CDT
Guy Who Had Sex on Beach Learns His Fate
Elissa Alvarez, 20, and Jose Caballero, 40.   (Manatee County Sheriff's Office)

A man caught having sex with his girlfriend on a beach last year faced the judge today. The man's sentence: two-and-a-half years in prison. Jose Caballero, 40, will also have to register as a sex offender in the state of Florida, the Bradenton Herald reports. That's "horrifically unfair," says Caballero's attorney, Ronald Kurpiers. "I don't believe that his sex offender registration is applicable with what he's convicted of." But according to witness testimony in the Florida trial, Elissa Alvarez, 21, got on top of Caballero in a sexual way on Bradenton Beach last July in broad daylight, and a 3-year-old saw them. And a video caught the couple in the act. Then there's the matter of Caballero's legal past: He's already served eight years for trafficking cocaine.

"We felt that two-and-a-half years was something that not only held him accountable but also reflected his past history, as well," says assistant state attorney Anthony Dafonseca. While Kurpiers disagreed with the sentence, he says prosecutors could have reinstated their original request of 15 years if Kurpiers had sought less time. But Kurpiers says he plans to appeal. Alvarez, who has no criminal history, was sentenced to time served (plus sex-offender status). "If you think about 2:30 in the afternoon on a crowded beach," Dafonseca tells the AP. "It takes a certain type of person to do that in front of children a few feet away." Caballero's sentence is expected to cost the Florida Department of Corrections $45,160 in prison time. (Read about an Indiana teenager who was just branded a "sex offender.")

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