Prince Harry and Meghan
Markle’s new security chief was fired by Michael Jackson’s family after they
discovered past drunk-driving charges and a domestic violence complaint against
him, DailyMail.com can reveal.
The Jacksons sacked Alberto
Alvarez after the pop star’s death as they reportedly felt something was ‘off’
about him.
The family let him go despite
Alvarez remaining loyal to Jackson, and was one of the first at the scene when
the King of Pop was found dead at his home in June 2009.
News of Harry and Meghan
appointing him emerged in May when he was pictured cycling alongside the
British former royal in Montecito, California.
The security chief, who has
previously worked for other celebrity clients, was seen accompanying Meghan as
she visited the memorial site honoring the victims of the Uvalde school
shooting on May 26
The 45-year-old had worked for
pop legend Michael Jackson and even testified at the 2011 trial into his death
and called 911 on the night he died in 2009. He is pictured with Jackson in
Hollywood months before his death
DailyMail.com has learned that
Alvarez was fired by the Jackson family not too only after the singer’s death,
after they discovered a drink-driving conviction and domestic violence
complaint against him
Alvarez, 45, is
highly-trained, has 15 years’ experience, and is used to dealing with celebrity
clients.
But his hiring by Harry, whose
mother Diana died in a drunk driver crash, may surprise some fans of the
royals.
In March, 2010 TMZ reported
that Alvarez was fired by the Jackson family. Alvarez’s DUI and domestic
violence charges to light that month article by the now-defunct website
PopEater, bought by the Huffington Post.
The site claimed that the
Jacksons got rid of the security guard ‘after they discovered he had a criminal
record and no longer felt he should be near the family’s large brood of
children’.
Alvarez had worked as a
bodyguard for Jackson for more than five years. He was pictured by the singer’s
side during Jackson’s 2004 child molestation trial in Santa Maria, California,
and again in Beverly Hills in May 2009 just days before Jackson’s death.
After Jackson’s death
neighbors said the discreet security chief had kept his job for the singer
under wraps the whole time.
Alvarez was a key witness in
the investigation over Jackson’s death, telling LAPD that the singer’s doctor
Conrad Murray stopped performing CPR on him to hide vials of Propofol.
However, there was some
controversy over Alvarez’s statements to police, as the former pop king’s
bodyguard waited two months before making the claims about Murray.
Alvarez is licensed as a
security guard and has an exposed firearm permit with the California Bureau of
Security and Investigative Services valid until May 31, 2024
The security guard was seen
riding bikes with Harry and a friend near the prince’s Montecito, California
home in May, around the same time Alvarez was reported to have been hired by
the couple.
Alvarez, who has 15 years of
experience in personal protection and event security, has also previously
worked for boyband One Direction (He is pictured above with Louis Tomlinson at
Glastonbury Festival in 2015)
A family friend told the site:
‘When he started changing his stories, the estate decided to check him out. He
not only had a DUI, but there was also a domestic violence dispute on his record.
Someone had filed a domestic complaint against Alvarez, and he also had a DUI
arrest.’
Los Angeles court records
obtained by DailyMail.com show that in October 2009, Alvarez was convicted of a
DUI with a blood alcohol level over 0.08%, and driving without a license in
Pomona.
He was given three years’
probation, a $390 fine, and court documents state he had to ‘successfully
complete a 3-month licensed first-offender alcohol and other drug education and
counseling program’.
