Case Highlights Alleged Abuses at Border

The 25-year-old woman from El Salvador crossed the border on a cold night and hid in the brush to wait for daylight, alone and frightened.

When the man confronted her on a lonely trail at dawn, her first instinct told her he was a bandit, one of the human vultures who prey on illegal immigrants in the foothills, police say. Then she saw the green uniform of the U.S. Border Patrol; she thought she was safe.

What happened next on the morning of Dec. 15, police say, is the nightmare of every female immigrant and every humane border agent. Police say the Border Patrol agent, Charles Vinson, sexually assaulted the Salvadoran woman and then disappeared into the brush.

After a five-day investigation, San Diego police detectives arrested Vinson, 41, at his suburban home. He was charged with sexual assault under color of authority, the latest in a series of border officers accused of abuse or corruption. Last week, an immigration inspector pleaded guilty here to bribery and civil rights charges for allegedly soliciting sex from seven women in exchange for resolving their immigration problems.

The emerging details of the Border Patrol case highlight the kind of problems the Border Patrol has been trying to root out: alleged abuse of suspects, agents who survive despite signs of trouble on the job, and internal policing hampered by the nature of border enforcement. Vinson’s eight-year career has been checkered by concerns about his treatment of women and use of force, according to police, federal investigators and fellow agents.

“It was common knowledge that the agents didn’t want to be around him when he was around women,” said a veteran of the Border Patrol’s Imperial Beach station. “He was a loose cannon.”

Fellow agents complained years ago that Vinson took liberties while frisking women, causing his removal from the horse patrol, investigators and agents say. Vinson has been investigated at least twice for alleged excessive force, federal officials said, including the fatal shooting of a suspect. And because sexual assault cases can represent a pattern, detectives are looking for other victims.

“We are still looking at other cases that occurred in the community that might be similar,” said Capt. Tom Hall. “If you have a [law enforcement officer] that is a suspect, it becomes a more serious matter because they have authority, they have the ability to restrict people’s rights and freedom.”

After a recent court hearing, Vinson’s lawyer, Thomas Warwick, said the agent denies the charges, which have been a blow to his family.

“It is an incredible strain,” Warwick said. “It’s a deeply religious family.”

Warwick declined to comment further on the agent’s response. Vinson is free on bail and has been placed on unpaid leave.

Johnny Williams, the patrol’s chief in San Diego, said his agency is cooperating with investigators.

“It’s always disappointing to see an agent charged with a crime,” Williams said. “The vast majority of all our officers do conduct themselves very professionally.”

Three months ago, Williams decided to fire five agents accused of throwing rocks at an illegal immigrant and covering up the incident, in which the injured man staggered to a pay phone and called San Diego police. The difference in the Vinson case is that Border Patrol agents quickly called the police themselves after they caught the Salvadoran woman, who said she had just been assaulted by an agent.

The alleged victim was bound for Los Angeles with her husband and son, who have legal resident status and had crossed the border earlier that night and gone to a motel to wait for her. She suffered injuries from being restrained during the assault but was not hospitalized, police said.

Unlike cases in which alleged victims often do not cooperate or cannot be found, detectives say they have gathered physical evidence and the victim identified Vinson. Assisted by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General and the Border Patrol, the investigation has unearthed previous complaints about Vinson’s conduct toward women.

Police Sgt. Joanne Archambault confirmed that police are looking into an incident in which Vinson was reported by a fellow agent on the horse patrol for “improperly searching a female.” According to federal officials close to the investigation, about six years ago fellow agents confronted Vinson for being “overly aggressive in frisking females,” allegations that caused supervisors to remove him from the horse patrol.

“It was an informal punishment,” a federal official said. “The horse patrol is considered desirable duty.”

Although critics accuse agents of obeying a code of silence, the veteran of the Imperial Beach station said: “It was the troops who brought it to the attention of the supervisors. They were really uncomfortable when he was around women.”

Immigrant advocates--as well as Border Patrol officials--have complained about the hiring, training and supervision of agents. The patrol traditionally has not used psychological tests and other modern screening tools. Especially during periods of rapid hiring, sluggish background checks have allowed dubiously qualified recruits to slip through.

The government has poured resources and attention into the Border Patrol, expanding the force to record size and launching high-profile operations--such as the plan announced Friday to bolster activity in California and Arizona with the aid of the military and local police. Violence and complaints are down in San Diego, but immigrant advocate Roberto Martinez said the Vinson case shows that problem agents still elude detection.

“It really comes down to the lack of psychological screening,” Martinez said. “They are out here without supervision. Who knows how many of these cases go unreported? The difference was that this lady had the courage to come forward.”

In two other cases, though, Vinson was investigated and cleared. He shot and killed Victor Mandujano, an illegal immigrant, during a period of tense U.S.-Mexico relations at the border in 1990. Mexican police and diplomats denounced the shooting as unjustified.

While patrolling on foot and in plainclothes, Vinson tried to arrest Mandujano, 17, and four other crossers. The agent chased them back to the fence near the pedestrian gate to Tijuana and shot Mandujano twice at point-blank range after the youth tried to wrestle his pistol away, according to the Border Patrol.

Investigators concluded that the shooting was justified. A judge ruled in Vinson’s favor in a civil lawsuit filed by the youth’s family.

Nonetheless, Martinez says authorities should consider reopening the Mandujano case because of Vinson’s arrest. Although Vinson’s Imperial Beach co-worker believes that he fired in self-defense, he criticized Vinson’s actions leading to the confrontation with Mandujano, saying his assignment that night called for him to conduct surveillance on smuggling vehicles and safe houses.

“He was not supposed to be down there,” the co-worker said. “That shooting should never have happened.”

Federal investigators looked into another incident in which a border crosser accused Vinson and several other agents of roughing him up, but deemed it unfounded, according to federal officials.

The nature of Border Patrol work complicates the question of whether Vinson showed a detectable pattern of misconduct. Agents work far from supervision in desolate terrain, even in this most urban of border regions.

Moreover, victims and witnesses tend to be elusive and fearful of contact with the justice system. Most complaints against the patrol are deemed unfounded. Some agents accuse immigrants of fabricating allegations in hopes of winning legal immigration status or lawsuits.