“Unusually serious case”: Virginia man receives six life sentences for drug abuse and rape of underage girls

A Woodbridge, Virginia, man who pleaded guilty to drugging and raping young girls will receive a six-year life sentence, according to Prince William County District Attorney Amy Ashworth.

Judge Kimberly Irving also sentenced 36-year-old Balmore Ortiz Guardado to 215 years in prison, with 179 years suspended.

Sentencing guidelines recommended a sentence of between 35 and 86 years for the charges, but Irving went beyond that range because of “the violence of the crimes, the number of victims and the impact (of the crimes) on the victims, the use of a firearm, and the recommendation of the Commonwealth.”

The crimes occurred between late 2021 and 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 taking advantage of an addiction they had, Ashworth said. He was also accused of sexually abusing them while they were incapacitated.

“This leaves victims with a lot of trauma that they have to process and deal with, and they will have to deal with it for the rest of their lives,” Ashworth told WTOP. “We are very thankful that no one died as a result of taking these substances.”

Guardado, who Ashworth’s office says is a drug dealer, was accused of recruiting the girls and supplying them with Percocet pills, as well as fentanyl, cocaine, alcohol and Xanax, and then “facilitating the sexual abuse and rape of the victims, often while they were incapacitated by drug use or under the threat of a firearm.”

“In the vast majority of cases, judges follow the sentencing guidelines,” Ashworth said. “This was simply an unusually serious case.”

Such cases are difficult because there are no other eyewitnesses and no video or photographic evidence, Ashworth said. Victims do not always report the incidents directly, and substances can impair their memory.

“There’s usually a lot of shame associated with it,” Ashworth said.

Guardado pleaded guilty to 14 counts, including three counts of rape, three counts of sexual penetration with objects and seven counts of distributing Schedule I or II drugs to a minor. Those charges were based on encounters with seven victims, Ashworth said, adding that there were others who either could not be located or for which there was insufficient evidence to proceed.

“The supply of drugs to minors is something that needs to be taken very seriously,” Ashworth said. “And when you consider that it appears to be done with the intent to sexually abuse these children, it is shocking.”

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