Cedar Rapids man convicted for sexual abuse of intoxicated woman in Iowa City

IOWA CITY — A Cedar Rapids man was found guilty last week for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman who was incapacitated, and video recording incidents outside a downtown Iowa City bar and in a hotel Nov. 18, 2018.

A Johnson County jury, following a weeklong trial, found Carlos Allen Hivento, 34, guilty of five felony charges of third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of invasion of privacy, both aggravated misdemeanors. The jury deliberated about five hours, according to court documents.

Hivento faces up to 54 years in prison. Some of the sexual abuse charges could merge, which would lessen his prison time.

According to testimony, the 19-year-old woman said she had been drinking with friends at home and then went downtown to a bar. She wasn’t aware Hivento was recording the sex acts with his cellphone in an apartment stairwell next to the Fieldhouse Bar on the Pedestrian Mall or that the sex acts even happened.

The woman didn’t remember most of the incidents, only that she woke up with Hivento on top of her at the Iowa House Hotel on the University of Iowa campus that night.

There was video evidence from Hivento’s phone of the sexual assaults.

According to the complaint, the woman was “visibly incapacitated” in the video and couldn’t give consent.

The defense argued the woman consented to the sexual acts.

Hivento also is charged with possession of contraband in a correctional facility and possession of a controlled substance, which stemmed from this sexual abuse case. When Hivento was taken to the Johnson County Jail, deputies recovered a powdery substance in one of his shirt pockets, according to a complaint. Police said it tested positive for cocaine.

This investigation led to three other women accusing Hivento of similar incidents of sexual assaults that occurred before the offenses for which he was just convicted.

He faces three additional third-degree sexual abuse charges and three trials.

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