CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Everett man pleads guilty to sexually abusing three boys

The Daily Herald - 8/4/2018

EVERETT — An Everett man pleaded guilty Friday to sexually abusing three boys, after he was released from prison for killing his young son in a street race.

John Anthony Alves, 36, crashed his BMW into oncoming traffic when he tried to race another BMW at a stop light on Evergreen Way in October 2012, court records show. He'd let his 7-year-old son, Josiah, sit in the front seat as a reward for being good. Josiah died at the scene.

Alves pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and served a 15-month prison sentence.

After his release, he was arrested for attempting to elude police in a truck with a stolen trailer in May 2017. He drove the wrong way on north Everett streets, ran between houses and begged officers to shoot him before his arrest, according to court records.

A relative reported to police in June 2017 that he'd seen child pornography on Alves' phone, according to court papers. Alves denied it, and said the relative had given the phone to him. Police seized the evidence. Once they had a warrant, they found the phone held hundreds of videos and images of child pornography involving boys ages 5 to 12.

But it took police months to find Alves again, according to court papers. Eventually he was tracked down at a home in the Stanwood area in January. Alves had hidden in a crawl space. Police learned he'd been living with a boy in his early teens, who was reported missing months earlier.

At first the boy told police Alves hadn't hurt him. Weeks later, however, he revealed he'd used methamphetamine and made pornographic videos with Alves. The boy's mom found one of the videos of Alves sexually abusing the child. The abuse had been going on for months, according to charging papers. The boy agreed to take a sexual assault exam, but stopped it and walked out when medical staff asked him what had happened, according to court papers.

In March, one of the defendant's acquaintances spoke to her son about Alves, when she learned about the charges. Her children had spent time with him soon after he was released from prison. She'd noticed Alves gave candy, electronics and extra attention to one of her boys, according to charging papers.

The child confided that Alves had sexually touched him, and told him to keep it a secret. The boy is on the autism spectrum, court papers say. He was under the age of 8.

Later that same month, a third boy told a Child Protective Services worker that Alves had shown him naked pictures of boys on a phone. He reported to police that Alves made him smoke something that caused him to pass out, when they were staying at the same Everett motel on Evergreen Way. He feared Alves did something sexual to him while he was unconscious. He recalled another time when Alves gave him drugs, forced him into a bathroom and raped him. That boy was under the age of 12.

On Friday afternoon, Alves appeared in Snohomish County Superior Court in a jail uniform, with a scruffy dark beard and a cursive tattoo across the right side of his neck. He pleaded guilty to attempting to elude police, possessing child pornography, two counts of first-degree child molestation and another felony crime for sexually abusing the teen in Stanwood.

A judge set a tentative sentencing date of Sept. 18.

Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb .