How Could You? Hall of Shame-Elsa Cuellar Alvarado and Miguel Alvarado

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Laredo, Texas, Elsa Cuellar Alvarado, 55, and Miguel Alvarado,64, were charged with “a total of 10 counts of tampering with governmental records to establish residency for the children they had registered at United Independent School District schools” on May 29, 2013 according to Loredo Morning Times.  CPS removed 10 children, aged 4 to 17, due to unsafe conditions. There are allegations of physical and sexual abuse, but the children are not cooperating. The identities of the children are currently unknown. The children believed that they were the biological children of the Alvarados, but the children do not appear to be related. They have lived with the Alvarados since they were infants. Some media are reporting that four of the children are believed to have been born in the US and the others may have been from Mexico.

“A complaint from UISD board of directors led the state and federal authorities to a home on Del Mar where they found 10 minors. All minors found were enrolled with false documents at UISD schools and it is why they believe it might be a case of child traffickers. From an early time, investigators from the District Attorney’s office and elements of Child Protective Services alongside federal agents prepared two simultaneous raids.

The investigation began when the prosecutor’s office received a complaint from the UISD school district officials who detected a possible fraud case with documents.

They found that 10 children were registered with that address, something out of the ordinary.

Authorities raided the home at 416 Manor, Section C in Del Mar, where law enforcement officers arrested a woman identified as Elsa Cuellar Alvarado and Miguel Alvarado.

In the house they found 10 minors, all foreigners, who were registered at UISD schools with fake birth certificates and fake social security cards.

Possessing a fake birth certificates is a state crime and the possession of a social security cards is a federal crime. Alaniz confirmed that the arrest of the couple was precisely because of the use of the false government documents.

In another raid on 1319 Bustamante allegedly owned by women, authorities seized roosters, hens, weapons and cash without specifying the amount.

UISD district directors noted that the case is under investigation and it is suspected that children were registered with false documents and possibly not related to the couple.

They believe the children are foreigners. The 10 children were turned over to the staff of Child Protective Services while they determine their origin and immigration status.

Elsa and Miguel Cuellar face nine counts for falsifying documents. Both were sent to the Webb county jail.”

Child trafficking in Laredo

[Laredo Sun 5/31/13]

Involved in Murder of a 14-Year-Old

“A woman who stood trial in the late 1990s in the aggravated kidnapping and murder of a 14-year-old Laredo boy was arrested Wednesday for allegedly falsifying records for at least nine school children residing in her home.

Elsa Cuellar Alvarado, 55, and Miguel Alvarado, 63, were charged Wednesday with a total of 10 counts of tampering with governmental records to establish residency for the children they had registered at United Independent School District schools.

Cuellar Alvarado entered a plea agreement and was placed on probation for hindering the apprehension of suspects in the 1990s kidnapping and murder of Juan Valentin Alonzo, who was 14 when he was killed in June 1998.

The kidnapping and murder charges were dismissed because no evidence could prove Cuellar Alvarado participated in Alonzo’s death.

Sentenced to 10 years probation, Cuellar Alvarado received an early termination of her probation in 2002.

Federal law enforcement agencies and UISD police executed warrants Wednesday at the apparent residence of Cuellar Alvarado and at least nine children, 416 Manor Rd., and another location, 1319 E. Bustamante St.

Gloria Rendon, UISD assistant superintendent for administration, said the children ranged from elementary to high school age.

The Manor Road residence is within the district’s boundary for Nye Elementary School, United Middle School and Alexander High School.

A “red flag” was raised when employees in the district’s admissions/attendance and dropout recovery department noticed that two students listed as twins in its registry had differing places and times of birth on their birth certificates, Rendon said.

The Alvarados had claimed they received power of attorney over the children, she said.

“At that point, we notified law enforcement,” Rendon said.

“That’s when the investigation was placed in law enforcement hands.”

Miguel Alvarado was held in the Webb County Jail on a $100,000 bond.

He was later released after posting bond.

It was unclear as of late Wednesday whether Elsa Cuellar Alvarado was in custody at the jail.”

2 accused of falsifying UISD students’ residency records arrest

[Laredo Morning Times 5/30/13 by JJ Velasquez]

 

Possible Physical and Sexual Abuse

“The District Attorney’s Office is committed to determine whether physical and sexual abuse against 10 children living with a partner that registered in district schools UISD with false documents, but children and adolescents refuse to talk.

Although not determined exactly where they come from, the authorities believe that they can be brought from a young Mexicans to Laredo, as even they think that they are all brothers.

“The biggest difficulty we are facing is that children do not want to talk, without informing them we will move slower in the research, they do believe that all are brothers and that detainees are their parents,” said Isidro Alaniz.

The District Attorney said that the raid conducted Wednesday morning at a residence at 416 Manor, was arrested and Elsa Alvarado Cuellar Miguel Alvarado, 55 and 64 years old respectively.

The woman received nine counts of forgery of government documents with a total bond of $ 900,000, while her husband received only one, with a deposit of 100 thousand was able to guarantee to recover his freedom.

Elements involved in the operation of the District Attorney and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who in the house also found a couple of adults and two infants to 4 years, living in subhuman conditions for others, asleep in a mattress with excrement and among some chickens, bare and very dirty.

The investigation began at the request of school district officials UISD, which found that 10 students were registered in the same direction and to verify documentation, found they had social insurance and others false birth certificates.

“We detected some social insurance of persons now deceased and others who are adults and living in California,” said Alaniz.

STATE CUSTODY

The 10 children who were rescued by the authorities are aged between 4 and 17 years and three of them are girls of 14, 15 and 16 years and two are infants only 4.

“They were all placed in the custody of the Department of Child Protective Services of Texas, some have been sent to other cities while the case is investigated,” confirmed the District Attorney.

Its researchers try to talk to the biggest, teens, looking for information to help solve the case to determine the origin of all minors and if abuses were committed against them, but at first did not want to declare.”

Prosecutors Investigate physical and sexual abuse by child traffickers

[El Manana 6/3/13, Google-translated]

Surgery While in Custody?

“The woman who allegedly falsified documents to enroll into United ISD schools nine children living in her home was released from the hospital Monday.

Elsa Cuellar Alvarado, 55, who was arrested May 30 and charged with nine counts of tampering with governmental records, had surgery to remove a tumor, according to her attorney, Oscar J. Peña.

Kristina Guerra, Webb County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, said Cuellar Alvarado was transported from a local hospital back to the Webb County Jail, where she is being held on a $900,000.

Miguel Alvarado, 63, who law enforcement arrested on one count of tampering with governmental records in connection with the case, was released two weeks ago after posting bail.

Nine children ranging in ages from elementary to high school were found to have been illegally enrolled at UISD schools through the use of false records, such as birth certificates and social security cards.

According to a criminal complaint, school administrators said Cuellar Alvarado admitted to them the documents were fake and, as recounted in the complaint, pleaded, “But please don’t tell anyone; the children think I’m their real mother.”

She is suspected of human trafficking, the complaint, issued by UISD Police Department Inv. Alexander Rodriguez, states.”

Woman accused of falsifying UISD docs for 9 children released from hospital

[Laredo Morning Times 6/10/13 by JJ Velasquez]

Coercion and Non-Denominational Church

“Authorities in this border town are scrambling to learn the identities of 10 children taken by Child Protective Services from a sprawling home in one of its nicer neighborhoods.

CPS cited unsafe conditions when they removed the children from the home of Elsa Cuellar Alvarado in May. The rest of the story is far more strange, and many questions remain unanswered.

The children, ranging in age from 5 to 17, believe they’re Cuellar Alvarado’s sons and daughters and have lived with her since they were infants. But most of them are not related to each other and none of them appear to be related to Cuellar Alvarado, authorities said.

When school district officials opened an investigation into whether Cuellar Alvarado and her husband were falsifying documents, it looked like a standard case of someone in Laredo letting families from Nuevo Laredo claim residency at their address to attend U.S. schools, but all but four of the children are from the U.S.

The children will undergo DNA tests, but officials don’t know who to compare it with.

Weeks after Cuellar Alvarado’s arrest was splashed across the news media here, only one possible biological parent has come forward, a young woman who attended the small nondenominational church that Cuellar Alvarado, ran and says she was talked into giving up her son.”

CPS removes 10 children from Laredo home

[My San Antonio.com 6/14/13 by Jason Buch]

Bond Reduced

“Judge Joe Lopez in the 49th District Court has reduced the bond for Elsa Cuellar Alvarado to $540,000.

Cuellar Alvarado, 55, a local ministry director, and Miguel Alvarado, 63, were arrested and charged May 29 with 10 counts of tampering with governmental records.”

Judge reduces bond for Alvarado in records tampering case

[Laredo Morning Times 6/14/13]

REFORM Puzzle Piece