‘Unusually bad case’: Va. man gets 6 life sentences for drugging, raping underage girls
A Woodbridge, Virginia, man who pleaded guilty to drugging and raping teenage girls is getting six life sentences, according to Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth.
Judge Kimberly Irving also sentenced Balmore Ortiz Guardado, 36, to 215 years of incarceration, with 179 years suspended.
The sentencing guidelines recommended a range of 35 to 86 years for the charges, but Irving went beyond the range because of “the violence of the crimes, the number of victims and the effect (of the crimes) on the victims, the use of a firearm, and the recommendation of the Commonwealth.”
The crimes occurred in late 2021 through 2022, according to a news release from Ashworth’s office. Guardado was accused of either introducing 15 or 16-year-old girls to drugs or exploiting an addiction that they had, Ashworth said. He was accused of also sexually abusing them while they were incapacitated.
“That leaves a lot of trauma for the victims to process and deal with, and they’re going to have to deal with that for the rest of their lives,” Ashworth told WTOP. “We’re very grateful that nobody died as a result of ingesting any of these substances.”
Guardado, who Ashworth’s office said is a drug dealer, was accused of recruiting and providing Percocet pills with fentanyl, cocaine, alcohol and Xanax to the girls, and then “facilitating the sexual abuse and rape of the victims, often while they were incapacitated from the drug use or with the threat of a firearm.”
“In the vast majority of cases, the judges stay within the sentencing guidelines,” Ashworth said. “This was just an unusually bad case.”
Such cases, Ashworth said, are difficult, because there aren’t other eyewitnesses, and there’s no video or photo evidence. Victims don’t always report the incidents right after they happen, and substances could impact their ability to remember.
“There’s usually a lot of shame involved,” Ashworth said.
Guardado pleaded guilty to 14 charges, including three counts of rape, three counts of object sexual penetration and seven counts of distribution of a schedule I or II to a minor. Those charges were based on encounters with seven victims, Ashworth said, adding that there were others, but they either couldn’t be located or there wasn’t enough evidence to move forward.
“The distribution of any drug to a minor has to be taken very seriously,” Ashworth said. “And then when you add on that you’re doing that seemingly with the intent to sexually assault these children, it’s shocking.”