Earlier this month, Jose Caballero and Elissa Alvarez were found guilty of lewd and lascivious exhibition for having sex on Florida's Bradenton Beach—and they faced a pretty stiff maximum sentence for their tangle in the sand: 15 years behind bars. On Wednesday, Alvarez learned her time in jail won't be anywhere near that long. At a hearing that was actually supposed to set a later sentencing date, a Bradenton judge sentenced the 20-year-old, who has no criminal history, to time served. She has been in custody since May 4 and was released last night. Her attorney described her embarrassment and the unforeseen consequences: "She's been designated a sex offender, so for the rest of her life, as it stands now, she has to report and be treated as a child molester." (The AP points out she can appeal.)
"To say she has learned her lesson would be an understatement," he added. Caballero, 40, will be sentenced July 6, and the Bradenton Herald reports he won't get off so easy. He has a record (an eight-year stint in jail for cocaine trafficking) and, as Assistant State Attorney Anthony Dafonseca tells the Herald, there was "a vast difference in the demeanor that Mr. Caballero reacted to the fellow beachgoers versus the demeanor of Ms. Alvarez and how she reacted." Prosecutors want to see him handed 2.5 years. His lawyer says they'd "be stupid" not to agree to the shortened offer, "but there are some other factors. The whole sex offender thing is a big issue." (Click for the tale of another couple busted having sex in an ill-advised location.)
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