Prosecutors: Fake immigration agent raped, extorted illegal immigrants

By LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
Published 09:59 p.m., Thursday, March 29, 2012

A Renton man accused of sexually assaulting a woman after threatening to have her family deported is behind bars and facing rape and robbery charges.

King County prosecutors claim Jose Antonio Haughton convinced the woman and others that he was an immigration agent who could help them obtain legal status in the United States. Haughton, 36, is accused of extorting several people and raping one woman after threatening to kill her family or have them deported.

Haughton was booked into King County Jail this week to face the charges filed against him earlier this month.

“The defendant has demonstrated a pattern of harassing … the particularly vulnerable group of undocumented immigrants, pressuring them to give him sometimes thousands of dollars,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Richard Anderson told the court. “He would frequently resort to threats of harm to people’s families to ensure compliance with his demands.”

In broken English and through a translator, the 36-year-old woman explained Haughton claimed at various times he was a police officer, a security guard and an immigration agent. Federal coffers, he allegedly claimed, were paying all of his living expenses while he investigated illegal immigrants living in the United States.

The woman told the detective Houghton first approached her at a McDonalds claiming he was in the business of helping Latinos work through the legal immigration process, Kent Detective Heather Vance told the court.

Haughton offered to help the woman obtain excessive government assistance through fraud – an offer she declined – then began hitting on her, the Kent detective said in court documents. Haughton – a convicted felon with a history of violence against women – managed to get her cell phone number.

The woman ultimately agreed to give Haughton a ride to a nearby Department of Licensing office after promising to pay to fill her tank for her trouble. All the while, the woman told police, Haughton kept mentioning he could clean up criminal records and immigration matters.

In the month that followed their January meeting, Haughton convinced the woman he worked for the federal government on immigration matters. Given his position, he claimed he could “help” people who were in the United States illegally.

The woman introduced Haughton to a relative who had previously returned to the U.S. after being deported. According to charging documents, Haughton charged the man $3,000 to “help him with his papers.” The woman claimed Haughton was extorting that man by threatening to turn him over to immigration authorities if he didn’t pay.

When the man was unable to come up with the money, Haughton threatened to harm the woman and her family if her relative didn’t continue to pay him, the Kent detective told the court.

“Haughton would keep reminding (her) of his power and connections, stating he would have them arrested,” Vance said in charging documents. “He told (her) that Immigration was paying for all of his living expenses and that ‘he was on a special case to get a guy.’”

The day she was raped, Haughton went with the woman to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Tukwila under the guise of obtaining immigration papers for her relative, the detective continued. She then dropped Haughton off at a bar, where he demanded yet more money.

Later that day, Haughton called the woman threatening to harm her family if she didn’t meet him at a Howard Johnson hotel in Kent and return a phone charger he claimed to have accidentally left in her car, the detective continued. Haughton is alleged to have threatened her again in the hotel parking lot.

“You don’t know what I am capable of,” Haughton said, according to charging documents. “I can put you all in jail. … I know you care about your family.”

Claiming he had a pistol, Haughton led the woman into the hotel and forced her into his room there, Vance told the court. Once inside, the detective continued, Haughton implied he would sexually assault her young daughter if she didn’t comply with his demands.

Having stripped in the hotel bathroom, Haughton pulled off the woman’s clothing and sexually assaulted her.

“If you act good, I’ll give you your green card,” he allegedly said during the attack.

After raping the woman, Haughton forced her to walk with him to his car so he could retrieve an unloaded pistol, Vance told the court. They then returned to the room, where she watched as Haughton loaded the gun.

Haughton is alleged to have then told her that she and her family would be arrested if she went to police. Before releasing her, the detective said, he forced her to give him a hug and a kiss.

Prosecutors: Fake immigration agent raped, extorted illegal immigrants - seattlepi.com
Days after the rape, Haughton threatened to kill the woman and her family if she didn’t pay him $20,000, the Kent detective told the court.

Renton Police provided photos of Haughton taken after he was shot there. According to charging documents, the photos were used to identify Haughton as the woman’s assailant.

The allegations are not the first time Haughton has been accused of attacking a woman while armed.

In 2009, Haughton was convicted of threatening to kill a 53-year-old woman at her Renton home.

Haughton, who was previously convicted of a felony drug crime in New York, was arrested elsewhere in the city carrying a TEC-9 pistol. He was not charged with unlawful gun possession and ultimately sentenced to four months on home detention for felony harassment.

At large when charges were filed March 16, Haughton was arrested Wednesday afternoon. He has been charged with second-degree rape and second-degree robbery, and has not yet entered a plea.

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Prosecutors: Fake immigration agent raped, extorted illegal immigrants - seattlepi.com