Community shines light on sexual abuse charges against Salem business owner

Frozation Nation owner faces charges related to a former high-school age employee

Apr 19, 2023

A TikTok user posted a video in early April that appears to detail a romantic relationship between downtown Salem frozen yogurt store owner Alvaro Olivarez and a 16 year-old employee.

The video makes several claims about Olivarez with supporting screenshots, including:

Olivarez’s wife (who is listed in Oregon business records as registered agent of the business) is pursuing the victim, and the victim is facing some type of retaliatory charges as a result.
Several screenshots of text messages presumably from Olivarez, prefaced with a picture that appears to show Olivarez and the victim in embrace.
A review left on Yelp that alleges multiple previous employees have lodged complaints against Olivarez with local police in the past.

Oregon Judicial Department records show Alvaro Olivarez facing 5 charges lodged in 2022 - a pair of misdemeanor Sexual Abuse charges in May of 2022 and a pair of felony Sexual Abuse charges in September 2022. A contempt of court charge also appears in November 2022.

As the video gained traction locally, more and more people in comment sections - both on TikTok and other social media platforms - offered support to the victim.

And several shared their own experiences with Olivarez - many left feeling targeted or, at the very least, uncomfortable.

Local Facebook group Salem Eats 2.0 announced that members began submitting posts for approval about the TikTok video, allegations, and Sexual Abuse charges. They decided to address the issue & reminded users that Olivarez still hadn’t been found guilty of the pending charges, but the charges alone were damning enough against a local restaurant owner for them to wade in.

Most of the reaction across social media has been support for the victim, and gratitude that folks are aware of the situation at Frozation Nation - a frequent destination for families and young folks in downtown Salem.

As the attention snowballed across social media, there were reports this morning that a window had been shattered at the frozen yogurt shop. There’s no indication it was related to the recent news, and there have been no calls for any type of retribution from the concerned community.

Image posted on social media on 4/19 of Frozation in downtown Salem. The glass panel to the left of the name is shattered with glass on the sidewalk.

Court documents show the next activity in their case against Olivarez is a status check hearing on 4/26/2023.