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Victor Alvarez-Real
A former television host for a Spanish-speaking station out of Springdale faces one charge of rape after a warrant issued last week accused him of multiple sexual attacks on a 7-year-old that occurred in 2016.
Victor Hugo Alvarez-Real, 35, of Springdale (aka Hugo Real) is wanted on the warrant, which was issued on May 15 after charges were filed ten days earlier in the case.
Alvarez-Real was a host of various programs and coverage by Univision, a division of Pinnacle Media LLC until he left the company in January of this year.
But concerns in the Latino community go just beyond the damage of the image to a local ‘celebrity” because Alvarez-Real also operated Real Photo and Video and was a principal photographer for a number of quinceneras throughout the region.
Many feel like that could have given him access to multiple victims.
“There is a reason for an arrest warrant,” said Judith Yanez of Springdale said on a Facebook post. ” This person was a photographer for quinceneras. He had easy access to minors. If there are other victims, they need to know they are not alone.”
Yanez indicated that she personally knew the victim who was near and dear to her heart.She also posted that prior to his arrest, Alvarez-Real had taken deposits for photography jobs that she feels he never intended to complete, possibly stockpiling funds in preparation for fleeing the area.
The Facebook page for Real Photography and Video was active late Tuesday afternoon. The webpage domain linked to the Facebook account had been parked on a server and was up for sale
Another Hispanic resident of Springdale, who asked to remain anonymous, said that potential victims of both sexual abuse and those who have associated with photography related jobs involving Alvarez-Real may be afraid to come forward because of their undocumented status.
“It’s a real problem,” said the woman. “Unfortunately, there are some bad people who use the fear of other’s about being arrested by Immigration Services to keep their victims silent.”
The community is also being very critical of the lack of coverage from Univision concerning the arrest of their former employee. Some say the lack of reporting on anything negative in the Latino community is disappointing.
“Nothing … they have said nothing,” said the woman. “He no longer works there so you can’t blame Univision but they should be covering the story.”
Univision/KWNL, virtual channel 31, is licensed to Winslow. The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 31 and the company operates out of a suite of offices on College Avenue in Fayetteville.
Pinnacle Media company president Gregory Fess released a public statement on Saturday.
“Pinnacle Media does not take any responsibility for personal actions of former employees. Pinnacle Media is proud to continue serving the communities in Arkansas as it has done for almost eight years.”
Dennis W. McCaslin
Dennis McCaslin has been a longtime news and sports reporter for several media outlets in the Fort Smith area. He has also been a well known radio personality and play-by-play announcer for several years prior to joining InsideFortSmith.Com. He is the voice of the ArklahomaSports High School Game of the Week. E-mail: dennis@greatplainsdigital.com
