Thread: Immigrant advocate convicted of sexual assault

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Immigrant advocate convicted of sexual assault


By Brian Fraga
bfraga@s-t.com
December 03, 2010 12:00 AM


NEW BEDFORD — Anibal Lucas, the Guatemalan community activist who played a key role in the aftermath of the 2007 Michael Bianco immigration raid, will spend the next six months in jail after being convicted of sexually assaulting a woman who sought his help on immigration-related issues.

Lucas, 52, the longtime director of Organizacion Maya K'iche, left New Bedford District Court on Thursday in handcuffs after jurors deliberated for five hours over two days before finding him guilty of one count each of indecent assault and battery and assault and battery.

After his release, Lucas will have to register as a sex offender. He will be monitored by a GPS bracelet and he will not be allowed to work for any organizations that work with immigrant communities.

The conviction stemmed from an incident in which Lucas groped a woman's backside in Organizacion Maya K'iche's Acushnet Avenue offices in the summer of 2009, according to testimony.

Jurors acquitted Lucas of three criminal charges that stemmed from allegations that he touched another woman's thigh, grabbed her waist and offered her $200 in exchange for sex.

The women, both undocumented immigrants, testified during the two-day trial that they had been sexually harassed after they had gone to Lucas' organization for help when their employer fired them for not having proper identification documents.

On Thursday, the women cried when the verdict was announced. In an impact statement to the court, and during an interview with The Standard-Times, they said they hoped the conviction would empower women in the Guatemalan community to resist sexual harassment and exploitation.

"When this happened to me, I felt that I had to be away from my community," said the victim, a 24-year-old woman from Guatemala who testified that Lucas expressed his desire to have sex with her, tried to kiss her on the cheek and groped her last June.

"I felt I wanted to help the other women who were going through the same thing," she said.

She and a 19-year-old Guatemalan woman who also alleged sexual misconduct said they had been intimidated — and their identities disclosed and defamed by Lucas in a local Spanish newspaper — since the allegations were brought to the police last year.

"When I accused him, he was telling the community that a man had paid me to accuse him, and that it was going to be proven in court," the victim said. "It was all lies."

"I was afraid, for my family in particular," the 19-year-old said. "When I went to (Maya K'iche), Anibal said this was a game for him. Maybe now he knows it's not a game."

Defense attorney Stewart H. Grimes appealed to Lucas' record of community involvement in asking Judge Thomas Kirkman to impose a suspended sentence. Grimes said Lucas was deeply regretful for the incidents, and noted he did not have a prior criminal record.

"He has a history of helping people, not hurting people," said Grimes, who during the trial argued that the touching was benign.

"A kiss on the cheek and a pat on the butt doesn't deserve six months in a house of correction," he said.

Luis Rodriguez, president of the Latino Coalition in New Bedford, spoke to the court on Lucas' behalf. He said Lucas had helped many Guatemalan immigrants by organizing meetings with city and police officials to highlight the discrimination they often experienced.

"He initiated these meetings so the community would be empowered to know their rights," Rodriguez said. "We've gained so much with Anibal."

Before imposing his sentence, Kirkman said the trial had highlighted the story of two women who migrated to the United States in search of a better life. Instead, they found themselves exploited in the workplace and harassed by someone who was supposed to help them secure their rights.

"Everybody has the right to be left alone," Kirkman said.

He ordered Lucas, who is married with two young children, to serve six months of a 2½-year jail sentence.

After his release, Lucas will have to register as a sex offender. He will be on supervised probation for two years, during which he will need a probation officer's permission on where to live and work.

Kirkman also ordered that Lucas not be allowed to work for any organizations that provide services to immigrants.

"It's unfortunate that a man who has given so much has had so much taken away," Grimes said.

It is a stunning downfall for a man who had been credited with playing a major role in organizing legal help for the 361 immigrant workers arrested by federal agents during the Michael Bianco raid in March 2007. He had also served as a liaison between the Mayan community and police, and traveled around the country offering his organizing and translating services to other Guatemalan migrant communities.

However, a different picture emerged during testimony in which the women testified that Lucas perpetuated the injustices they often experienced.

"There are a lot more women, not just me, who suffer the same things, the sexual abuse, harassment, the domestic violence," the victim said.

"Those women have to speak out. They don't have to accept that kind of suffering in this country. They don't have to live like they did in Guatemala. It's a different reality here. Over here, the law protects women."

Jurors acquitted Lucas of three criminal charges that stemmed from allegations that he touched another woman's thigh, grabbed her waist

Wow! With our new TSA scanners and pat downs the TSA can do this and not even be charged for it in courts