3 Deny Counts Tied to Doctor’s Beating : Border Patrolmen, Polygraph Operator Indicted After Probe of Desert Incident

Two U.S. Border Patrol agents and a polygraph operator pleaded innocent Thursday after being indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with the 1985 beating of a doctor and efforts to sidetrack an investigation of the incident.

The three men entered their pleas in U.S. District Court in San Diego. The nine-count indictment was handed down Wednesday.

Jose A. Cisneros, a U.S. citizen who practices medicine in Mexicali, Mexico, maintains that he was beaten and humiliated after being apprehended in the desert near Calexico by Agents Kevin W. Jarvis, 30, and William A. Bowen, 38.

Jarvis, a six-year Border Patrol veteran, is accused of kicking and punching Cisneros while Bowen watched. Cisneros, 34, was confronted by the agents after they discovered him taking target practice with a handgun in a remote gully.

According to a Border Patrol report filed after the incident, Cisneros was injured when he resisted arrest and attempted to flee on foot from the agents. Cisneros has filed a $350,000 claim against the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Judge Roger Curtis McKee ordered the two agents and George F. Bonsall, a polygraph operator hired to conduct a lie-detector test on the men as part of an internal investigation, released after they posted $50,000 bail Thursday.

Attorneys representing the two agents said in interviews after the hearings that they are confident the men will be proved innocent.

“When a jury hears the facts of this, there’s no question in my mind they’ll return with an acquittal,” said Gene Iredale, a San Diego attorney representing Jarvis.

Michael Pancer, Bowen’s attorney, agreed.

“We firmly, firmly believe that when all the facts of this case are out, it will result in an acquittal,” Pancer said.

Cisneros could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Larry Burns said an investigation into the matter by the INS had revealed that Cisneros’ claim of being assaulted by Jarvis was “well-founded.” Burns said evidence was presented to the grand jury over the two-week period before the indictment was handed down Wednesday.

If convicted, each of the suspects faces a maximum penalty of 20 to 25 years in jail and a $250,000 fine on each count.

Jarvis and Bowen were charged with depriving Cisneros of his civil rights, conspiracy to block the investigation and making false statements to federal investigators. Bonsall is charged with illegally using the mail to deceive investigators, conspiracy to block the probe and making false statements to investigators.

The incident occurred the afternoon of May 5, 1985, when Cisneros drove into the desert about 10 miles from his Calexico home to take target practice with a newly purchased handgun in an area often used as a shooting range.

In an interview with The Times after the incident, Cisneros said he had fired four shots at a bottle when he heard shouts from the border agents, who had stopped a group of illegal aliens nearby.

Jarvis told The Times that he at first thought Cisneros was shooting at him.

After hearing the shouts, Cisneros said, he drove out of the area but then noticed a Border Patrol vehicle pursuing him from the opposite side of the gully. The doctor continued on a dirt road, heading toward the highway.

There he found the road blocked by another Border Patrol vehicle. Those agents ordered Cisneros out of his car. When Jarvis arrived in the other vehicle, the agent handcuffed Cisneros and threw him to the ground, Cisneros said.

After Cisneros protested, Jarvis responded by saying, “I should’ve shot you” and cursed repeatedly, the doctor said.

Cisneros was taken to the Imperial County Jail by sheriff’s deputies called to the scene, but no charges were filed because of insufficient evidence.

After Cisneros filed a protest with the INS, immigration officials began an internal investigation. As part of that probe, Bonsall was brought in to conduct polygraph tests on Jarvis and Bowen in July, 1985.

Bonsall was supposed to mail the polygraph charts to investigators, but when they arrived, the envelope was empty, Burns said. Investigators concluded that Bonsall never put the charts in the mail, Burns said.

The polygraph operator is accused of purposely damaging the envelope to make it appear that the charts had fallen out in the mail and then lying to investigators about it, Burns said. The charts have never been found.