Man who contacted teen online gets new sentence

WEST CHESTER >> Four years ago, Alexander Ortiz was able to negotiate a prison sentence for having sex with a teenage girl he met on social media that allowed him to do his time in the local prison, rather than the state system.

He is not so lucky this time around.

In March, Ortiz was sentenced to 2½ to five years in a state correctional facility on charges that he tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old Westtown girl who he had contacted on Instagram.

He was also sentenced to additional time for the previous incident, for which he had been sen

tenced to serve one year less one day to two years less two days, but allowed to serve his sentence in Chester County Prison, not the harsher environment of state prison.

Police said that in the recent case, Ortiz had ultimately not met up with the girl, but had acknowledged that he had offered her money and wanted to have sex with her. He told her at the time he was 24 years old.

Ortiz, of West Chester, who had been arrested in December 2018 by Westtown-East Goshen police, entered a guilty plea to charges of unlawful contact with a minor. Common Pleas Judge Jacqueline Carroll accepted the

plea and sentenced him to the prison term in accordance with the terms set out by an agreement.

In 2016, he was charged by West Goshen police with statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, and unlawful contact with a minor, among other counts, for an incident in which he met a teenage girl on Facebook and later sexually assaulted her when they met face to face for the first time.

According to the terms of that plea, Ortiz was not eligible for parole until he has served at least 20 months in prison, and was not given credit for the months he had already spent in prison.

According to court records, the earlier incident occurred on Oct. 28, 2014, at the West Goshen Municipal Park on Fern Hill Road. Ortiz and the victim, who was

not identified, had first met on the social media site and then later started sending text messages to one another. When they met at a pre-arranged date at the park, Ortiz forced himself on her, the prosecution alleged.

In the recent case, Westtown-East Goshen had received a tip from a 14-yearold girl that she had been communicating with a man on Instagram beginning in November 2018. She and the man, whose account was listed as a_Ortiz, exchanged messages, and that in one of them the man offered the girl $100 to meet him. He later raised that amount to $200.

Oritz was arrested on Dec. 11, 2018, for violating his earlier parole. He agreed to speak with an officer from the WEGO department, who asked him about the contact with the teenage girl. He said he be

lieved the girl was 15 or 16 years old, but that he was attracted to her and intended to meet her and give her money. He said that if she had agreed, he would have had sex with her.

Oritz has been held in county prison since his arrest. He entered the guilty plea in March but was kept at the prison while an assessment was conducted to see if he should be classified as a sexually violent predator. As of Monday, he was still at the prison, awaiting transfer to the state correctional system.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Christine Abatemarco of the D.A.’s Child Abuse Unit. Ortiz was represented by First Assistant Public defender Susanna DeWese.

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.