Immigrant advocate pleads guilty to sex charges

By stephen hunt

The Salt Lake Tribune
First published 5 hours ago
Updated 36 minutes ago Updated Mar 9, 2011 02:57PM

A prominent advocate for Cache Valley immigrants has pleaded guilty to reduced charges in connection with sexually touching a woman against her will in 2009.

Leo Bravo — who has resigned as director of the Multicultural Center of Cache Valley — was initially charged with two counts of second-degree felony forcible sex abuse.

On Tuesday, the 62-year-old man pleaded guilty to two class A misdemeanor counts of attempted forcible sex abuse.

Bravo faces up to a year in jail on each count when he is sentenced April 20 by 1st District Judge Thomas Willmore.

According to police, Bravo locked the door to his office at the center and twice touched the woman underneath her clothes on Nov. 16, 2009.

Prosecutors have said Bravo used his position of trust to take advantage of "a vulnerable woman who came to him for help."

Bravo is the one-man operator of the center, which helps immigrants, mainly Latino, obtain housing, understand U.S. laws and deal with family issues.

He founded the center in 1994. In 2005, it assisted more than 1,300 people through various programs, according to its website.

In 1993, the Cache Chamber of Commerce named Bravo , a Venezuela native, the Minority Advocate of the Year.

In 1997, Bravo was one of six Utahns awarded the Cesar Chavez Peace and Justice Award.

And in 2006, the Logan City Police Department made him an honorary member. Bravo was also a member of the Logan City Planning Commission until the allegations surfaced.

After the December 2006 raid at the Swift & Co. meat-processing plant in Hyrum, Bravo was instrumental in helping the community recover, according to Dean Quayle, a Logan city councilman and former chairman of the multicultural center’s board. More than 150 people were arrested and all but seven deported, dividing families and sowing fear.

"Leo really was the one who helped those who didn’t have any other resource to go to," Quayle has said.

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