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Former Police Detective Headed to Prison After Having Sex with Underage Female Relative

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Photo by jorizaga via the LAist Featured Photos pool

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A judge had some harsh words for Erik Alvarez, a former Long Beach police detective who was sentenced today for having sex with an underage female relative, reports the Long Beach Press-Telegram. After ruling that Alvarez, 42, will serve two years in state prison and must register as a sex offender, Judge Jon Ferguson told him, "You destroyed a family. You destroyed a young life."

But perhaps the strongest statement came from Alvarez' soon-to-be ex-wife, Cheryl Alvarez, who filed for divorce in May. In a particularly brutal twist, Cheryl is the person who found out about the molestation when she walked in on Alvarez and the girl, who was 15 when the abuse started, having sex in the couple's bed.

As he listened, allegedly wiping tears from his eyes, Cheryl told him: ""You should be held to a higher standard for what you did because you abused your power of authority, being a highly respected police detective of the past 17 years...Your intelligence clearly makes you more dangerous, now that we know that you are a sexual predator. And only you know how far back you started grooming her to be sexually molested by you."

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