INS Official Sentenced in Sexual Bribery
A federal judge Monday sentenced a former U.S. immigration inspector to nine years in prison for demanding sex from women in exchange for returning their immigration documents.
Former San Ysidro Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector Frederick L. Toothman, 51, pleaded guilty to one civil rights violation and seven counts of sexual bribery in January, the day before his trial was to begin.
Most of Toothman’s alleged victims were Latin American. All but two were authorized to enter the United States but had been referred to Toothman because of questions over their papers. Toothman allegedly told them he could resolve their immigration “problems” in return for sexual favors. One woman said she submitted.
“She had eight kids to feed and she couldn’t run away,” federal civil rights attorney Jim Oliver said. “She was caught between a rock and a hard place.”
When asked if she wished to speak Monday, prosecutors said, the Mexican woman told San Diego District Judge Napoleon Jones: “I want justice.”
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