FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A 51-year-old man is in custody after a violent home invasion this month in Fort Pierce involving three children who were held hostage.
Police say the suspect, Antonio Zaid Diaz Alvarez, broke into a home on Avenue E, sexually assaulted two girls, exposed himself and held a knife to a 13-year-old boy's throat.
The teenager told police that Diaz Alvarez restrained them with a cord inside a bedroom and made them watch pornography and videos of executions.
Investigators said the break-in happened on Dec. 22 while the children's mother was at work.
Police arrested Diaz Alvarez five days later, on Dec. 27, after finding him in a vacant home on North 14th Street.
Diaz Alvarez, who also has active warrants in St. Lucie County as well as Miami-Dade, faces the following charges:
- Kidnapping/false imprisonment
- Lewd and lascivious exhibition
- Lewd and lascivious molestation
- Home invasion with a deadly weapon
The suspect also has active warrants for sex crimes involving children in Miami-Dade County.
