Posted on 11/23/2003 2:05:24 PM PST by South40
4 Tijuana cops accused in assault on U.S. tourist
Baja California's top state law enforcement official yesterday called for strict punishment of four Tijuana police officers accused in connection with the rape of a U.S. tourist.
"Anybody who breaks the law in Baja California should pay for what they do," Attorney General Antonio Martínez Luna said. "In this case, the punishment has to be more severe. Police officers are the first ones who should obey the law."
A Baja California state judge has until next week to decide whether to hold the officers for trial or drop the charges. The four are in custody and have not yet made statements, Martínez said. But Tijuana's Channel 12 reported that one officer was released after posting a $400 bond.
Tijuana's 1,500-member police force has been plagued this year by allegations of eight previous incidents of extortion involving U.S. tourists. But none of those allegations involved rape.
The city government has won praise from the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana for trying to crack down on the officers said to be involved in those extortions.
Héctor Manuel Arias Campos, 33, a police supervisor working in a unit assigned to assist tourists, faces the most serious charges in the new case, including rape, extortion and abuse of authority, according to the Attorney General's Office.
"He betrayed the department and Tijuana's municipal government if he committed the crimes that he is accused of," said Martín Domínguez Rocha, Tijuana's secretary of public safety.
Jesús Ortiz Rentería, 37, and Benjamín Rodríguez López, 27, both face charges of extortion and abuse of authority. Víctor López Morales, 44, is accused of covering up the alleged extortion.
The alleged rape victim is a 32-year-old U.S. tourist with an Iowa driver license. According to her statement filed with the Attorney General's Office, she was accosted Oct. 7 while walking back to the United States with her husband and 9-year-old son.
According to the statement, the woman said she had bought medicine for narcolepsy, a neurological sleep disorder. She said she had a prescription from a U.S. doctor, but the officer said it wasn't sufficient, according to the documents.
The officer took the family to a police station near the San Ysidro border crossing. A supervisor interviewed the family members separately, and when it was the woman's turn she was ordered to take off her clothes for a strip search, which she did.
According to the documents, the supervisor, later identified as Arias, then said the family would have to to pay a fine to a judge. First they were told it would be $400, then $300.
"We were then aware that this was a shakedown," the husband recounted in the documents.
The supervisor asked another officer to take the husband and son to a cash machine for the money while the woman stayed to see a judge. While they were gone, the woman was left in the room with the supervisor, who ordered her to take off her clothes again and raped her, according to the statement.
When her husband and son returned, they paid the officers $80 and were allowed to leave. The woman didn't tell her husband what had happened until they returned to the United States.
"The rape (charge) was very unusual," said Liza Davis, a U.S. Consulate spokeswoman. "We don't know of any others involving an American citizen. We can't definitely say there is a repeated risk of this happening again, but we definitely need to keep an eye on it. The municipal police have been very responsive."
The consulate began working with Tijuana city officials to take action against the police after American tourists began complaining earlier this year about corrupt officers. The victims typically said they were stopped by officers and accused of a crime, then forced to pay bribes of up to $600.
In a move hailed by the consulate as precedent-setting, Tijuana's internal affairs unit in July recommended punishment for 16 officers involved in eight separate incidents.
The complaints were forwarded to a six-member commission to determine the appropriate punishment. In all eight cases, the accused officers will be suspended from the force for 30 days without pay, said Enrique Méndez, a Tijuana councilman and member of the commission.
Domínguez, Tijuana's secretary of public safety and another commission member, said the officers have not been informed of the decision.
"We were going to notify them, but then we had an officer killed, and it was not considered an appropriate moment," said Domínguez, adding that they probably will be notified next week.
Who knew?
I do miss the surfing trips from my high school and college days, though.
Imagine if four American cops were accused of raping an illegal immigrant, and the local DA wasn't sure whether he was going to press charges.
Maybe gringos in the US should pick a city in Mexico - and 2 or 3 million of us move in, refuse to speak spanish, and eat sausages and pizza - and eventually elect our own gringo as cops.
Then, maybe we'll get justice.
Mordida?
It's called 'Lago de Chapala,' with about 35,000 American and Canadian citizens living there.
Notice how this international incident has gotten zero national coverage? Imagine if four US Border Patrol agents had raped and extorted a family of illegals crossing the border.
This is several Mexican officials RAPING a mom from Iowa IN THE COP SHOP, at the world's largest border crossing. Details not in this article are that she was raped more than once, while other cops IN UNIFORM stood lookout.
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