A 50-year-old Logan man has pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman during a domestic violence incident that unfolded on July 8, an incident that prosecutors say included strangulation, a broken cellphone, and an infant driven away after the woman opened the garage door. Renan Alberto Alvarez accepted a plea deal that resolves a case originally built on far more serious charges, including kidnapping.
Plea Deal Cuts Thirteen Charges to Four
Alvarez appeared Sept. 28 in Logan's 1st District Court, where he pleaded guilty to third-degree felony aggravated assault, domestic violence in the presence of a child, property damage, and a class B misdemeanor count of drug possession, according to kvnutalk.com. As part of the agreement, prosecutors dismissed nine remaining charges, including the first-degree felony count of aggravated kidnapping that had defined the case since Alvarez's arrest.
The outlet reports that Alvarez remains held without bail in the Cache County Jail and is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 9, 2026. That timeline closes out a case that began nearly three months ago with a 911 call that ended when Alvarez broke the phone while speaking with a dispatcher.
What Happened on July 8
According to Cache Valley Daily, the incident began when Alvarez threw a cellphone at the woman and began strangling her. Police say he intercepted a child's attempt to call 911 and broke the phone before choking the woman a second time and fleeing to the garage with an infant. He then drove his vehicle through the garage door while still holding the infant, the outlet reports.
The woman was hospitalized for her injuries, and officers found drug paraphernalia in a bag Alvarez left behind, the same report states. Police said Alvarez threatened to flee the state with the infant unless he was given $6,000 in cash — a demand that set off a search lasting weeks before his eventual capture.
Conflicting Accounts of How Police Found Him
Accounts differ on exactly how investigators located Alvarez after he went missing. The Cache Valley Daily report states that officers attempted to track Alvarez's phone but spotted his vehicle before the telecommunications company responded to the warrant. KVNU separately reported that investigators tracked him using cellphone GPS data. A separate account from KSL says officers sought a warrant for cellphone GPS information but located Alvarez's vehicle before the phone company responded. The Cache Valley Daily and KSL accounts agree officers eventually caught up with him in Logan.
During police questioning, Alvarez denied strangling the woman and said he never threatened to harm the infant, per the same Cache Valley Daily report. But court documents cited in that account state he admitted to using marijuana and to driving away with the infant without using a child restraint device.
A Pattern Prosecutors Have Seen Before
The case echoes another recent Cache County prosecution in which a 40-year-old Logan man accused of choking his girlfriend, speeding over 100 mph, and swimming through Benson Marina while holding a firearm to evade law enforcement also pleaded guilty to reduced charges, according to Cache Valley Daily. Plea agreements that trade a long list of charges for a guilty plea to a smaller set are a routine part of Utah's criminal process, which allows prosecutors and defense attorneys to negotiate a resolution rather than proceed to trial, per Utah Courts. Utah's criminal procedure rules specifically permit agreements involving a plea to a lesser-included offense or the dismissal of other charges.
Alvarez's sentencing next month will determine what penalty follows the four charges to which he admitted guilt, after the aggravated kidnapping count and eight other charges were dropped under the deal. For now, the case remains open only on the calendar, with the Cache County Jail holding him without bail until his Nov. 9 court date.
