Border Patrol Agent Indicted in Beating : Immigration: Target of alleged assault at trolley station was a legal resident of the United States.

A Border Patrol agent pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges that he severely injured a legal U.S. resident in an alleged assault near a San Diego trolley station last year.

A federal indictment made public Thursday charged six-year agent Frank Jeschke, 39, with violating the civil rights of Mauro Vasquez Morales, 25, a hotel worker who suffered serious kidney and back injuries in the incident on May 16, 1991. Jeschke is accused of striking Vasquez and slamming his knee into Vasquez’s back.

Jeschke and other agents from the Imperial Beach station allegedly stopped Vasquez and his brother for questioning about 6 p.m. near the San Diego trolley depot at 12th Street and Imperial Avenue, a common target of Border Patrol sweeps. When Vasquez protested that he was a legal resident, Jeschke threw him to the ground and kneed and kicked him, according to Vasquez’s lawyer, Marco Antonio Rodriguez.

“The incident apparently escalated because my client notified the officer that he was conscious of his rights,” Rodriguez said. “That apparently infuriated the officer.”

The agents arrested Vasquez’s brother as an illegal immigrant, but left the injured man at the scene, prosecutors said.

Fellow agents provided key testimony about the alleged use of excessive force to the grand jury, according to sources familiar with the case.

“The other agents went in and told the truth about what happened,” said an agent who asked not to be identified. He said the case was particularly egregious because Jeschke allegedly abandoned Vasquez instead of bringing him to the station and reporting the incident to a supervisor.

“It was a real serious injury, and it wasn’t reported,” the agent said. “He physically took him down, and then he let him go. You just don’t do that.”

The indictment is the first case since 1988 in which a Border Patrol agent has been charged with federal civil rights violations. It comes at a time of intense focus on alleged Border Patrol misconduct; recently an agent was convicted on rape charges in Imperial County and an agent was charged with first-degree murder for shooting a fleeing illegal immigrant near Nogales, Ariz.

Jeschke still works at the Imperial Beach station, the busiest and most violent patrol area on the U.S.-Mexico border. A Border Patrol spokesman said officials have not yet decided whether to change his job status as a result of the charges.

Jeschke’s lawyer said Thursday that the agent never assaulted Vasquez, and that two other agents agreed with his account in their initial written reports. Vasquez may have been injured in some other altercation and is now trying to win money from the government, said the lawyer, James Gattey.

“There was never any indication of any injury,” Gattey said. “He did not knee him. There was nothing of that type of thing.”

Gattey said that pressure to cooperate with FBI agents investigating the case may have prompted the other agents to change their stories to Jeschke’s detriment when they testified before the grand jury. He also said that his client has not been reprimanded or had his duties changed in any way since Vasquez made the allegations.

Although Gattey said Jeschke has a good reputation and has never been disciplined, fellow agents described him as a “problem agent” known for physically and verbally abusing immigrants.

“This wasn’t the first time,” an agent said. “He doesn’t belong in the Border Patrol.”

Border Patrol agents have a strong sense of camaraderie and solidarity and often dismiss misconduct allegations as unfair assaults on an agency that gets a bad rap from the public and the government. It is significant, therefore, that many co-workers are not disturbed by the indictment, another agent said.

“They are not all that concerned,” the agent said. “Usually everybody’s screaming about a case like this. This time, they aren’t screaming.”

Mike Hance of the National Border Patrol Council, the agents’ union, said the indictment shows agents are subject to tough scrutiny.

“If they can show criminal wrongdoing, they should go after him,” Hance said. “We feel our own in-house discipline is very strong. The public doesn’t quite see it that way. We don’t have a problem with (the indictment), as long as they have got the evidence.”

Immigrant advocate Roberto Martinez, who initially assisted Vasquez with his complaint, welcomed the indictment. He and others said the fact that fellow agents were willing to testify is one element that distinguishes the case from numerous lawsuits and complaints alleging Border Patrol abuse in which the government has declined prosecution in recent years.

“I think hopefully there is a message going out because of the Nogales shooting that the agents better clean up their act,” Martinez said.

Federal authorities say the allegations are difficult to prove because the incidents often occur in isolated areas and pit the word of an illegal immigrant against an agent.

“Every case is investigated thoroughly,” said U.S. Atty. William Braniff. “Very often complaints are made in which we are not able to develop enough evidence to go forward. That’s including cases in which we find the complaint is completely unfounded.”

Some allegations of abuse turn out to be fabrications by alien smugglers or hardened criminals, agents said.

Jeschke has been released on his own recognizance and could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison if convicted of depriving Vasquez of his rights under the color of law. A hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 8.

In 1988, an agent was acquitted of similar charges in the alleged beating of an illegal border-crosser. And an INS detention officer recently pleaded guilty to assaulting two prisoners in an immigration detention facility.