Sex offender pleads guilty to groping girls at mall
A registered sex offender from California charged with groping young girls as they shopped with relatives at Coronado Center just before Christmas last December pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Michael Chavarria, 47, also pleaded guilty to a failure to register charge and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and attempted aggravated burglary in separate incidents, according to a news release.
A judge sentenced him to the maximum of 12 years in prison, the top end called for in his plea arrangement, Monday afternoon.
Albuquerque police responded to a call at the shopping center in Uptown Albuquerque about 3:30 p.m. Dec. 23, about a fight started after Chavarria groped an 11-year-old girl inside Claire’s jewelry shop, according to the criminal complaint.
Chavarria came up behind the girl looking at necklaces, grabbed her rear end and said, “Hey sweetheart,” according to police.
The visibly upset girl told detectives she felt “violated.”
Detectives then were alerted to incidents involving two other girls at the mall who said they also had been touched and followed by Chavarria.
One of the girls told detectives Chavarria came up behind her and said “Oh, my God” before touching her rear end.
The girl told detectives she thought it was accidental and didn’t tell her family at first. Chavarria allegedly followed her to three stores before her mother confronted him. He then ran away.
Court records show Chavarria is a registered sex offender from California sentenced to six years in prison for lewd and lascivious acts upon a child in 2001. After moving to Albuquerque, he failed to keep up with his required registrations as a sex offender.