Former Boot Camp Counselor Convicted Of Child Abuse
PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — A former boot camp instructor was sentenced Monday after pleading no contest to a felony count of child abuse, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.
Thirty-eight-year-old ex-Marine Edgar Alvarado was immediately sentenced by L.A. County Superior Court Judge Suzette Clover to 60 days in county jail, four years of felony probation and 30 days of community labor.
Alvarado is also barred from engaging in any kind of counseling, training, or care of minors, paid or unpaid.
Deputy District Attorney Brook White said Alvarado was the owner of "Recon 180," an informal boot camp that dealt with troubled children.
Prosecutors said that over a three year span, several teenagers were hospitalized after entering the boot camp.
Officials learned the youths were physically overloaded and experienced exhaustion due to the difficult physical regiments Alvarado put them through, according to the D.A.'s office.
Prosecutors said there was no medical supervision at the camp, and the victims' ailments would go untreated.
White said the teens also claimed they were physically abused by Alvarado and his staff, including being punched, slapped and stomped on while attending the boot camp.
A camp instructor, Ruben Romero Mora, was charged with three misdemeanor counts of battery.
Mora, also known as Ruben Romero, earlier pleaded no contest to one count of battery and was sentenced to three years probation.
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