PRINTABLE PAGE

Ex-Border Patrol Agent Guilty of Kidnapping, Rape

Originally published by The Associated Press, February 20, 2002

TUCSON — A former Border Patrol agent was found guilty by a Tucson jury of kidnapping and raping and illegal immigrant in September 2000.

Dennis M. Johnson said that the sex he had with the 21-year-old woman from El Salvador was consensual. The jury of 10 men and two women didn’t believe his story and announced their verdict Tuesday, said foreman Kenneth Hofstra.

Prosecutors said the woman was handcuffed, naked and on her knees as she was forced to perform oral sex on Johnson.

“The evidence on both counts that was most telling was the fact that the defendant admitted he had handcuffed (the victim) with her hands behind the back,” Hofstra said. “That flew in the face of the idea that it was consensual.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Chapman said Johnson “used his authority to prey on the weak and the defenseless.”

Johnson, 36, is free on bond until his April 30 sentencing. He faces more than 20 years in prison.

Johnson resigned form the Border Patrol last year.

The incident began the night of Sept. 28, 2000, when a group of illegal immigrants who jumped the border traveled in a car to the Tombstone checkpoint. Johnson, an acting supervisor that night, separated the woman from the rest of the group and took her in his own Border Patrol vehicle.

Johnson testified he did so because a vehicle used to transport the group was full. He did not report to dispatchers that he was taking a lone woman in his vehicle, as required by Border Patrol rules. He also did not fill out paperwork on the woman or take her to be fingerprinted.

Johnson testified that as he drove her toward Douglas, the woman proposed doing him a sexual favor in exchange for her freedom. He said he declined several times before making what he called the biggest mistake of his life in agreeing.

The victim denied making the offer.

Afterward, Johnson drove the woman to the Naco Port of Entry and dropped her off, but a Mexican immigration inspector discovered she was Salvadoran and sent her back to American immigration. That’s when she told another Border Patrol agent of the assault.