Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 10 years for sex assault in 2017

A judge last week sentenced a Cedar Rapids man to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in 2017 on the roof of a bar in downtown Iowa City, an offense similar to another for which he was convicted in 2021.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Liz Dupuich sentenced Carlos Allen Hivento, 36, who was found guilty in February by a Johnson County jury of third-degree sexual abuse, to 10 years. She ran this term consecutively to the 34 years he was already serving for the other conviction. She also ordered him to serve a special lifetime parole and comply with requirements of the sex offender registry.

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“Our community is safer, thanks to the patience and courage of the victim-survivor, and the diligence of investigators and Assistant Johnson County Attorney Michael Lang,” Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith said.

The woman he sexually assaulted, in a victim impact statement, said she initially wondered why this would happen and who would do that to someone.

“I then just became numb, as I tried to erase this heinous crime from my memory,” the woman said in her statement. “I tried to brush everything off, focusing on prioritizing my education and enjoying college.”

But she couldn’t do that because Hivento continued to show up at the same places she was at with her friends, which “reignited the fear and anxiety.” But through “persistence and courage,” she graduated from the University of Iowa and moved on with her life.

It wasn’t until 2018 when the UI Police Department called her with an update on the case that she was taken back to the June 28, 2017, attack and felt traumatized again.

According to a criminal complaint, Hivento approached the woman outside a bar, grabbed her by the arm and told her he wanted to show her something and mentioned fireworks. She was then led to the roof of the bar, where Hivento “throttled” her, forced her to the floor and sexually assaulted her. She told police she tried to use her cellphone to text for help, but Hivento wouldn’t let her, according to court records.

The woman, in her statement, said the call from police in 2018 also brought her “hope and confidence” because she realized she may be able to help protect other females in Iowa City and at the UI. She used that as her “driving force to keep fighting.”

The police, in that call, told her they had identified Hivento by his phone number, according to testimony. Hivento had sent her a text calling himself “Karlos.”

Police had another case with similar circumstances involving a man known as “Karlos,” according to court documents. That phone number led to DNA testing from a bandanna found at the scene, which confirmed Hivento’s identity.

“In the months leading up to trial and having to relive this again, my emotions were one extreme to another,” the woman said. “I found myself struggling to get up in the morning, because at least when I was asleep, I didn’t have to think about what’s to come. I experienced random panic attacks, some occurring at work that led to me having to either leave for the day or just go cry in my car. I lost the ability to focus on what’s important to me (wedding planning), my brain just felt overworked from the endless anxiety.”

She said others in her life didn’t understand the impact this crime had on her, and she felt isolated in the coping process.

“The jury saw you for who you are and were able to quickly and unanimously find you guilty,” the woman said to Hivento in her statement. “You are alone in believing your irrational and inaccurate version of events.”

Hivento claimed the assault was consensual.

Hivento already is serving 34 years for a 2021 conviction of five felony counts of third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of invasion of privacy, aggravated misdemeanors.

The investigation into that woman’s assault led to three other women — one who made this statement last week — and two others accusing Hivento of sexually assaulting them outside downtown Iowa City bars in 2017 and 2018. Trials in those remaining sex abuse cases are set for June 18 and July 16 in Johnson County District Court.

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