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Tattoo artist Juan Alvarez is changing people’s lives one person a time
Davenport’s Professional tattoo artist Juan Alvarez is changing people’s lives one person a time
By Yesenia Flores
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“I’m here to continue to love what I do, and work with people who give me the opportunity to express myself as an artist. As long as I’m content, it doesn’t really matter if it’s a big crowd or a small crowd, as long as people love what I give them and as long as I’m able to enjoy what I do, it doesn’t matter where.” Said Juan Alvarez a professional tattoo artist based out in a studio in Davenport, IA Originally from Santa Ana, California, Alvarez moved to Moline, IL. with his family when he was in his junior year in high school. Though the change to the Quad Cities was a bit of a culture shock for him, with time the “smaller town feeling” grew on Alvarez and observing the interaction of the people in this community is something he appreciated seeing. But whether it be a big city or a small town, his purpose is clear, Based out of the Red Owl Collective studio in Davenport, IA., Alvarez has delivered his professional tattoo services to a growing list of clients – many, now established and returning clients who have loyally continued with Alvarez since their first session with the tattoo artist. Alvarez’s journey to becoming a tattoo artist started 3 years ago as an apprentice at a local shop. Alvarez, known for his ability to create defined and clean tattoos, his personal touch and uniqueness to his work has proven to be a reflection of how deep his dedication is to the originality of his craft. It comes as no surprise that his name and his work would be making a wave in the community before long. Alvarez has taken advantage of every opportunity. Whether it was watching videos or reading forums on the craft of tattooing; Alvarez dedicated all the time he could to become prepared. “Party time, hanging out with friends, relationships. Nothing mattered besides this.” Says Alvarez. Those sacrifices have certainly been paying off – requests for a tattoo session with the artist continue to be in high demand. Many people are hoping to make the cut for a session whenever his appointment book opens – which is typically booked out 3-4months. Though Alvarez continues to establish his name even more in the tattoo industry here in the Quad Cities, he doesn’t allow himself to get comfortable. Even with the experience he’s gained and the impressive resume under his belt, Alvarez still considers himself a student in this craft. “I’m still not satisfied at all. I’m as good as my last tattoo, so if I have a resume of great tattoos but if the tattoo I did yesterday was bad, nothing else matters but the tattoo I did yesterday. I have to keep on setting the bar higher than I did before..” said Alvarez Alvarez continues “...I’m never comfortable with what I do. People can say ‘this [tattoo] is amazing!’ – I don’t care, because I know I can do better. I want to be one of the best in the world.” Alvarez has experimented with different styles and methods of tattooing like colors, black and grey, and stippling to name a few, but his style is not defined to a specific one for now. “Since day one what I’ve always gravitated to is realism. To be particular, more specific, the style I have been playing with more is with double exposure, where you put one image inside of another, or a morph – where you transition one image to another.” said Alvarez Alvarez definitely welcomes requests that are different or out of his norm but being given the artistic freedom to provide his clients with something original, is always a must! “I want to give you something that you would be proud of, that not anyone has. I want to keep pushing the envelope and stay innovative and not follow trends...” said Alvarez When speaking of his clients, Alvarez expresses his devotion to providing them with the best experience possible. Alvarez continued “...I genuinely care about what I put on my clients. I care about the way the tattoo looks and the way it looks on them. At each consultation I talk about the in and out’s, what looks good, what doesn’t look good based off their skin; their ideas and how I approach it, just to really custom tailor everything to them.” To Alvarez, tattoos aren’t just a “tattoo” anymore, they’re a fashion statement. Seeing
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how his client’s confidence boosts when getting their tattoo is something that Alvarez truly values. “You’re changing someone’s attitude for the better. That’s one of the most important things for me, to make them feel good, more confident, make them feel better in their skin...” said Alvarez Alvarez continues “...one of the biggest accomplishments for me, is that I’m slowly seeing the success that all of this hard work I have been putting in is finally surfacing. People seeking me out, people finding me and telling me I’m worth the wait, I’m worth the price. Things that people say like ‘I’ve heard about you’ or ‘I love your work.’ – those things validate the work I put in.” Said Alvarez Amongst his accomplishments this year as well, Alvarez became one of “INDUSTRY INKS” Sponsored Artists. Alvarez and the Red Owl Team have also brought in quite a few wins from their recent participation at a tattoo convention in Iowa. To follow Alvarez journey and keep updated you can follow his social media at facebook, on or his website and the Red Owl Collective team at for a booking.
Visit HolaAmericaNews.com for more pictures of his work.
Tattoo artist Juan Álvarez at Red Owl Collective Studios in Davenport, IA. Photo by Yesenia Flores / Hola America
Judge Denies Requests For Information On Other Suspects In Cristhian Bahena Rivera Case
By Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio
A judge has ruled that prosecutors will not have to release information on other potential suspects in the case of Cristhian Bahena Rivera, who was convicted of first degree murder in May for the killing of Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts. Bahena Rivera’s attorneys are seeking a new trial, after new witnesses independently named the same suspect, who is alleged to have confessed to killing Tibbetts and to have been involved with a sex trafficking ring. In a ruling released Friday, District Court Judge Joel Yates sided with the prosecution, denying the defense’s requests for information on other suspects allegedly involved in sex trafficking-related investigations. Yates ruled that while he has the authority to order the information released, he found the requests overly broad and didn’t see how they were were relevant to Bahena Rivera’s case.
“It is difficult for the Court to see how the great deal of that information could possibly be relevant to the Defendant, to Mollie Tibbetts, or to the Motion for New Trial. Further, those investigations are likely to contain confidential information about a variety of people, and Defendant’s examination of those investigations would be nothing more than a fishing expedition,” Yates’ ruling reads in part, echoing arguments made by prosecutors. In a hearing at the Poweshiek County Courthouse on Thursday, Iowa Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown dismissed the defense’s efforts as a “fishing expedition” and said there is no credibility to the witnesses’ claims that Tibbetts’ case is connected to other suspects involved in sex trafficking in the area. “No evidence supports it. None. Zero,” Brown said. “There’s nothing there.” The requests by defense attorneys Chad and Jennifer Frese were filed after two new witnesses independently came forward during the trial to name a new suspect, who the defense identified in court as Gavin Jones. On May 26, an inmate who was incarcerated with Jones and Jones’ former girlfriend both approached law enforcement, saying that Jones had claimed he had killed Tibbetts. According to the inmate’s testimony, Jones said that he and another individual were involved in a sex trafficking ring run by a 50-year-old man and that they saw Tibbetts “bound and gagged” in a “trap house” run by the man. It was the 50-yearold man who directed Jones and the other individual to stab and kill Tibbetts and to frame a Hispanic man for her death, according to the witness. The inmate told investigators he believed that Tibbetts was going to be sex trafficked but that the publicity around her case “got too big too quick and something went wrong.” In court filings, the defense also named 50-year-old James Lowe, who is alleged to have run a sex trafficking ring in New Sharon, near where Tibbetts disappeared. A search warrant for Lowe indicated that he met one of his alleged victims at a Casey’s store in Tibbetts’ hometown of Brooklyn. Lowe is a former live-in boyfriend of the mother of Xavior Harrelson, an 11-yearold boy who disappeared from Montezuma on May 27. At Thursday’s hearing, Bahena Rivera’s defense team argued that the witness testimony and alleged connections to sex traffickers in the area are significant and warrant investigation. Attorney Chad Frese pointed to a number of other missing persons cases in the area, implying the disappearances may be linked. “There’s something rotten within this area. And [the prosecutors] don’t want to
Defense attorney Jennifer Frese speaks during a hearing for her client Cristhian Bahena Rivera at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma on Thursday. Bahena Rivera was convicted of killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts in 2018. A judge delayed Bahena Rivera’s sentencing after defense attorneys asserted authorities withheld information about investigations into a nearby sex trafficking ring the lawyers say could have been involved in the fatal stabbing. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) Continues next page
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help us, provide us any information,” Frese said. “This is a small area. Ten kids are missing. That’s not coincidental. And we think it’s exculpatory.” Speaking to journalists after the hearing, the defense attorneys further underscored what they claim is a link between the disappearances of Tibbetts and Harrelson. “We think that those two are inextricably linked,” Frese said. “I mean, Xavior Harrelson was abducted on the second to last day of our jury trial. That’s not coincidental.” During the hearing, Brown said it was “unconscionable” for the defense to bring up information in the missing boy’s case, which is currently under investigation. Brown maintains there is “no evidence” to connect the two cases. Frese meanwhile claimed that the information from the two new witnesses and his client’s recollection “lines up perfectly,” though there are apparent discrepancies between the accounts. Bahena Rivera’s testimony at trial was that two masked men abducted him from his home and forced him to drive them around as they followed Tibbetts, kidnapped and killed her, and put her body in the trunk of his car, all on the evening she disappeared. His statements at trial are not consistent with what he told investigators during an 11-hour interview in August of 2018, saying that he acted alone, confronting Tibbetts as she ran, “blacking out” and then hiding her body in a cornfield. The defense has said their client’s account of the masked men has remained consistent since they first spoke with him in August of 2018 and has not changed since the two witnesses came forward. According to the Freses, Bahena Rivera has never mentioned a second location or a “trap house.” When asked how to account for those apparent discrepancies between the witnesses’ accounts and his client’s, Chad Frese argued the stories are consistent enough. “We don’t know if we can line up the dots better if we have more information. But the major points, they line up,” Frese said. “The facts aren’t going to be all neat and pretty. But the major facts are gonna line up.” Bahena Rivera had been scheduled to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Thursday, the mandatory sentence for first degree murder in Iowa. His sentencing has been delayed while the defense’s requests are dealt with. Bahena Rivera is slated to be back in Poweshiek County court on July 27 for what is expected to be an all-day hearing on a motion for a new trial.
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