Man Convicted Of Rape While On The Lam Arrested, Extradited To Fort Mill

Jose Alvarenga, 26, walked into a Mecklenburg County courtroom Friday morning wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and handcuffs.

He told a judge he was ready to return to York County, S.C., and face prison for a rape he committed more than seven years ago.

After his arrest in 2002, he bonded out of jail and fled the country.

"We never thought he'd come back," said Deputy Solicitor Willy Thompson of South Carolina's 16th Circuit. “You hear about dumb crooks, well this one could be added to that.”

Thompson tried and convicted Alvarenga in his absence for the rape of a 15-year-old girl.

According to York County sheriff's deputies, on June 24, 2002, Alvarenga, who was then 19, picked up the girl, who he knew as a friend, from her home in Charlotte. He then drove her to the Palmetto Place apartments on Highway 160 in Fort Mill where he lived.

Deputies said once there, Alvarenga tied her up with the cord from a Playstation game system and a cord from window blinds and raped her.

Then he forced her into the shower to wash away any evidence of the crime. He dropped her off outside her home and the family called police.

Alvarenga was quickly arrested, but he bonded out of jail and disappeared. He was tracked to El Salvador, but that country does not have an extradition treaty with the United States and officers were powerless to return him to South Carolina.

A bizarre break in the case came just days ago. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said they were called to a McDonald's on Albemarle Road after employees became suspicious that a worker was stealing from the cash registers. That employee turned out to be Alvarenga, back in the United States.

He'd been living on Wilora Lake Road off of North Sharon Amity. Neighbors there told Eyewitness News on Friday that they'd never seen him at the house.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police discovered that Alvarenga was a fugitive from South Carolina and arrested him. Friday morning, he waived extradition. He will be transferred to the Moss Justice Center in York County.

Eyewitness News was not able to reach the victim's family. The victim would now be 22-years-old and her family still lives in the area.

Thompson said they are relieved at the news of Alvarenga's long-overdue capture.

"They're very happy. They know now a sentence will be given to him and he'll get what they've wanted him to have for some time," he said.

Back in 2002, Alvarenga was convicted of first-degree rape and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. His sentencing is scheduled for next week, where he faces up to 33 years in prison with no chance for parole.

Through an interpreter, Eyewitness News spoke briefly to Alvarenga’s mother outside the Mecklenburg County courthouse but she did not want to comment.