INS Officer Sentenced to Time Served

An immigration officer who was acquitted of 18 charges that he kidnaped and raped undocumented Latinas but convicted of one count of false imprisonment was sentenced Friday to two years in prison.

In effect, James E. Riley, 34, of Reseda was sentenced in Van Nuys Superior Court to time already served because he had been jailed for nearly 22 months since his arrest and was not required to serve additional time.

Judge Judith Ashman denied a request by Riley’s attorney, Otha Standifer, to reduce the conviction of the suspended Immigration and Naturalization Service officer from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Standifer said his client has mixed feeling about the sentence.

“It’s a major victory . . . but he now has a felony conviction on his record,” said Standifer, adding that Riley has appealed the conviction.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carolyn L. McNary, who said she was disgusted when the jury announced its verdicts Feb. 27, declined comment after Friday’s sentencing.

Riley had been charged with six counts of rape, six counts of kidnaping and seven counts of false imprisonment and assault. He faced more than 100 years in prison if he had been convicted on all charges.

Prosecutors contended that Riley preyed upon undocumented women for several months in 1990 by threatening to deport them unless they had sex with him.

The six alleged victims testified during the trial that Riley ordered them into his car, held them, and in most cases took them back to his apartment, where he forced them to have sex with him.

But jurors said after the verdict that contradictions in the victims’ testimony damaged their credibility. Riley maintained that the women willingly had sex with him.

The verdict drew criticism from immigrant rights groups, which said the outcome sent a message to illegal immigrants that it is not worth reporting such incidents to authorities.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the INS, said termination procedures for Riley would begin once the department receives confirmation of the conviction. Riley has been suspended without pay since May 30, 1990.