Las Cruces Lawyer Accused Of Downloading Child Porn On The Job

Ismael Alvarez, a 72-year-old former attorney at the New Mexico Legal Aid Office in Las Cruces, faces 12 counts of possession of child pornography based on an investigation that started two years ago.

In April of 2008, one of Alvarez’s supervisors had his computer searched by a hired technician. According to court documents, the technician found hundreds of pictures and videos on the computer’s hard drive– some of them featuring what appeared to be children. Alvarez was fired shortly after the discovery. His supervisor then approached the FBI.

The documents go on to state investigators found burned CD-Roms in Alvarez’s office cabinets with titles such as “Teen erotica” and “Teen nymphs.” At least one item had images of a “nude young female who appeared under the age of 12” in a sexually explicit position, according to the documents.

The documents also state that Alvarez told investigators he had “possibly a minimum of 200 items/CD-Roms including child pornography.”

Jess Lilley, Alvarez’s lawyer, declined to comment on the case. Lilley told ABC-7 Alvarez will face a judge at his arriagnment on January 3rd.