Accused Border Patrol agent from Hemet

OTHER VICTIMS SOUGHT: Ascencio believed to have sexually battered two women.

By CHARLES HAND/The Valley Chronicle
Published: Friday, May 13, 2011 2:58 PM PDT

A Hemet man has been arrested by Banning police and the Riverside County sexual assault team on charges he used his position as a Border Patrol agent to commit sexual crimes against two women.

Alex Diaz, detective sergeant with the Banning Police Department, said it is possible there are other victims and asked that anyone with information about other incidents contact him at 849-1194.

Meanwhile, Arturo H. Ascencio of Hemet is charged with sexual battery in two incidents separated by a year or more in which he allegedly used his position to force women to submit to partial disrobing and groping.

The investigation that resulted in Ascencio’s arrest this week started in mid-2010 with a suspicious Banning police detective, who saw what he believed to be an unconventional traffic stop.

Diaz said the detective witnessed the stop as he was driving to work and found it odd that Ascencio’s vehicle pulled up beside the vehicle that was being stopped, rather than stopping behind it, and that the law enforcement officer wore only a baseball cap and T-shirt with no evidence of a badge or a weapon.

The detective called in a uniformed officer, whose arrival seemed to make Ascencio nervous, said Diaz.

The victim reported that Ascencio stopped talking to her and left her alone as the police arrived, said Diaz.

At first, police thought the pickup truck driven by Ascencio was a civilian vehicle, but a check showed it to be a Border Patrol vehicle.

The victim, who is in her 20s, said Ascencio told her the truck she was driving was possibly involved in illegal activity.

When the police car pulled up, however, he abandoned his line of questioning and stopped talking, said Diaz.

When word of the incident got around the Banning police station, another officer recalled a similar incident from a year and a half earlier in which a woman in her 40s was not only stopped and assaulted, but badgered by frequent calls, sometimes 10 or 15 times a day, from Ascencio trying to talk her into meeting with him away from her house, said Diaz.

After one such phone call, the victim’s daughter called Banning police, who suggested that, if the caller were a legitimate Border Patrol agent, he would not object to meeting the victim at the police station.

Such a meeting was set up, but Ascencio did not show up, said Diaz.

The woman finally moved out of her home because of her fear that Ascencio would continue trying to contact her, said Diaz.

Experienced investigators visited Ascencio at his home to talk about the two incidents and they subsequently recommended charges be filed.

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