INS Agent in Rape Case Faces Five New Counts

Five charges ranging from kidnaping to rape were filed Friday against an Immigration and Naturalization Service agent who earlier this week was charged with abducting and raping an illegal immigrant after threatening to deport her.

The new charges involved three additional alleged victims who are also believed to have been assaulted or kidnaped by INS Agent James Edward Riley.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged Riley with one count of rape, two counts of kidnaping and one count each of false imprisonment and assault by a police officer.

The 32-year-old agent pleaded not guilty to the charges Friday before Van Nuys Municipal Court Commissioner Rebecca Omens-Rochman. At the request of Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard F. Walmark, Riley was ordered held without bail pending a May 25 preliminary hearing.

Riley already faces one count each of kidnaping, rape and rape under color of law, meaning that he used his position as a federal agent to commit the crime, for allegedly attacking a 24-year-old Sepulveda woman on April 11. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

He was arrested last week at his Reseda apartment after a monthlong investigation of the case involving the Sepulveda woman. that began after the woman reported to police that he abducted her and raped her in his apartment. The woman said she was then released.

The new charges stem from assaults dating back to September, police said. In each case, Riley allegedly approached a Latina on the street while he was off duty but driving his federal car. Police said Riley, who is bilingual, showed his INS badge and, after determining that the woman had no green card or legal status for being in the United States, placed her under arrest.

Riley is accused of kidnaping a 31-year-old woman from a Pacoima street in mid-September and raping her in his car, Walmark said. The alleged link to Riley came to light as police went through reports looking for similar crimes, said James A. Baker, chief filing deputy in the Van Nuys branch of the district attorney’s office.

The other two victims women were traced from clues found in Riley’s apartment, Baker said. The women were contacted by police and implicated Riley in the attacks, he said.

The charges of false imprisonment and assault by a police officer stem from a Jan. 9 incident in which Riley allegedly grabbed a 19-year-old woman in Pacoima. The woman slapped Riley’s face and fled, Baker said.

A 20-year-old woman told authorities that Riley grabbed her from a Van Nuys street corner sometime in February of this year, told her that she was under arrest and handcuffed her. He then drove her around in his car for several hours before releasing her without having assaulted her, Baker said. The incident resulted in a kidnaping charge against Riley.

During the attacks, Riley variously identified himself as an INS agent, a customs agent or an undercover police officer, Baker said.

Riley, an INS agent since November, 1987, was assigned to the Employee Sanctions Unit, which primarily audits records of companies to make sure they are not employing illegal aliens, police said.

Riley is now on leave while federal authorities investigate him.