A Fort Bliss soldier accused of raping Pfc. Asia M. Graham and other women has been charged in connection with four additional sexual assaults, military officials said.
Pfc. Christian G. Alvarado now faces a general court martial on a total of seven sexual assault charges dating back to December 2018. The cases are pending in military court.
Alvarado, who is in pretrial confinement, has been in the U.S. Army since July 2018. He arrived at Fort Bliss in February 2019. It was his first duty station.
In the latest allegations, Alvarado is accused of raping and groping women on repeat occasions over the last four years in or near Mesa, Arizona, according to a military charging document.
Alvarado used to live in Mesa, according to a NewsNation Now report regarding sexual assault accusations made against Alvarado by an acquaintance and former girlfriend in Arizona.
Alvarado was arraigned Thursday on four new counts of sexual assault and two counts of abusive sexual contact under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to a news release issued by Fort Bliss.
Officials said evidence in the newest allegations was found during an Army criminal investigation following the death of 19-year-old Pfc. Asia M. Graham at Fort Bliss on New Year’s Eve.
Alvarado is accused of raping Graham while she was unconscious on Dec. 30, 2019, within the first month of her arrival at Fort Bliss, her first duty station after joining the Army five months earlier.
On Dec. 31, 2020, military officials said Graham was found dead in her barracks room — a year since the alleged assault. The manner of death has not been disclosed.
U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command investigators do not suspect foul play in Graham’s death.
Last January, Alvarado was arraigned at a general court-martial for violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice on three allegations of sexual assault, a charge of aggravated assault and two counts of making false statements to military law enforcement investigators.
Sexual assault cases
The name of the victims are redacted in charging sheets released by Fort Bliss with the exception of Graham’s name, possibly because she is deceased.
In the new charges, two of the alleged sexual assaults occurred in December 2018 and two more on Jan. 2, 2019, both near Mesa, according to the charging sheet.
Alvarado is also accused on two counts of groping the inner thigh of a woman with the intent to harass in Mesa between Dec. 19, 2020, and Jan. 8, 2021.
In addition to the Graham case, the charges previously filed against Alvarado in January include other sexual assaults in 2020.
Alvarado is accused of sexually assaulting a woman who he knew was impaired and intoxicated by alcohol on May 8 in El Paso, the documents state.
He is accused in another sexual assault of a woman at Fort Bliss on Aug. 26. The aggravated assault charge stems from a strangulation on that same date.
Alvarado is assigned to the 1-501st Attack Battalion, 1st Armored Division Combat Aviation Brigade. It was the same battalion that Graham belonged to.
In an unrelated past case, El Paso police arrested Alvarado on a misdemeanor charge of unlawful discharge of a firearm in the city limits after officers responded to a call of shots fired on March 14, 2020.
Alvarado was accused of firing an AR-15 rifle at a berm claiming he was trying to scare coyotes at 11:15 p.m. outside an apartment complex in the 5000 block of Riley Court near Railroad Drive in Northeast El Paso, according to Channel 9-KTSM news report.
The case is pending in court.
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