Border Patrol agent accused of showing photos of his genitals to civilians twice while in uniform

Karen Parker says she was alone and looking for help when she encountered a Border Patrol agent, Juan Prishker, the day after Christmas in a remote stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in San Diego County. 

Parker had just driven from a nearby migrant encampment, where she provides aid as a volunteer to migrants waiting, sometimes for extended periods with little food, water or shelter, to be processed by Border Patrol. Parker was looking for an agent who could summon medical care for a mother and son from Angola. 

She recognized Prishker from previous interactions with him at the migrant camps. But when she approached him that evening, he cornered her between their two vehicles, was “rambling about ‘good and evil’” and showed her two photos of his genitals, asking “What do you think of that?” she said in several complaint documents detailing the incident.

“I was scared as shit. It was down in the dark at the wall. No cell service,” Parker said in an interview with inewsource. She said her left arm was in a cast at the time, and Prishker towered over her. 

Weeks later, a video posted on YouTube appeared to show a Border Patrol agent – who Parker says was Prishker – showing photos of his genitals and later exposing himself to another woman, who introduced herself as an adult film actress and was visiting the border with an entourage of vloggers. 

The video of the incident was posted online on Jan. 29 by a vlogger whose videos feature provocative, vulgar humor. 

Parker identified Prishker as the agent in the video in a February complaint sent to CBP. inewsource also compared photos from Prishker’s social media account to the agent in an uncensored version of the video footage posted on Patreon, a subscription based video platform. Both appear to be the same person.

Months later – after the video has been viewed more than 275,000 times and after Parker made multiple reports to government agencies – it’s unclear what any investigations into Prishker have found or whether disciplinary actions have followed. 

inewsource reached Prishker by phone on May 24. After a reporter identified herself, he declined to comment, saying he did not want to talk before immediately hanging up. inewsource also sent a message by text, but Prishker did not respond. 

inewsource was unable to confirm Prishker’s current employment status or how many years he’s been employed as a Border Patrol officer, though a San Diego Union-Tribune article from 2010 identified him as an employee of the agency at the time. 

Parker said when Prishker showed her the photo in December, she backed away toward her car, asking again about medical care for the mother and son. He said he’d let other agents know before she drove away. 

After that, Parker avoided volunteering at the migrant camps when she knew Prishker would be working. She said she told a county sheriff deputy what happened and later filed two complaints with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, the agency which oversees Border Patrol. 

In the January video, the group of vloggers is seen at a migrant encampment in Jacumba, a rural desert community in southeast San Diego County, when they encounter a Border Patrol agent. 

After interacting with the adult film actress in the group, the agent shows his phone to her, to which she exclaims, “Oh, it’s his penis!” 

The vloggers appear to encourage the agent, laughing and making sexually explicit comments, including about the size of his genitals and how he could pursue a career in adult films. 

Moments later, the agent motions for the filmer to turn the camera away. Then, standing on the opposite side of the opened door of a Border Patrol van, the agent appears to lower his pants to expose his genitals to the woman. From the video, only his head and shoulders can be seen through the window of the door, which is blocking the lower half of his body. 

“You’re not lying,” she says, gazing at the agent’s midsection. 

inewsource attempted to reach the woman featured in the video, but she did not respond to messages sent over Instagram and email. The vlogger who posted the video declined an interview request. 

In two later moments in the uncensored video, the woman lowers her shirt to expose her breasts to the agent, and the two kiss.

Citing federal privacy laws, CBP declined to answer specific questions about the incidents, and about Prishker’s employment status and whether he has ever been disciplined for misconduct.

The agency did confirm that CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the matter. A spokesperson from CBP also provided the following statement: 

“We do not tolerate misconduct within our ranks. When we discover any alleged or potential misconduct, we immediately refer it for investigation and cooperate fully with any criminal or administrative investigations. This is regardless of whether the alleged misconduct occurs on or off duty.” 

inewsource requested the Prishker’s personnel files through the Freedom of Information Act, a federal government transparency law. CBP declined to provide those files, calling the request “insufficient” because it did not include authorization from Prishker.

Parker filed a claim against CBP in April, asking for $6 million in damages due to the “significant emotional distress, fear and anxiety” the incident caused her. Months later, the memory still makes her body shake with anxiety, she said. 

Such claims are typically the first step in filing civil lawsuits against the agency, according to Parker’s attorney, Eugene Iredale. 

Parker exchanged texts with a San Diego County Sheriff’s deputy about the incident and officially filed a report with the department between December and January. She said she’s been unable to obtain a copy of her report from the department after requesting one, but that she was contacted by a sheriff’s deputy investigating her case on May 30. 

The Sheriff’s Department has declined multiple requests for comment. “This case remains under investigation and no details can be released at this time,” the department wrote in an email from its media relations team. 

The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, the agency responsible for prosecuting sex crimes in the county, also declined to comment. “We are not able to confirm whether or not our office is involved in an investigation,” said Tanya Sierra, assistant director of communication for the county district attorney. 

In 2022, CBP’s Office of Responsibility received more than 10,000 reports of misconduct, which resulted in just over 150 suspensions, removals, reprimands and counseling orders. About a third of those reports concerned Border Patrol personnel. 

The agency doesn’t release details about most of these cases, but some high-profile instances of alleged sexual misconduct in Border Patrol’s ranks have recently made the news. 

In February, the second-highest ranking Border Patrol official retired amid allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2023, another Border Patrol top official resigned while denying allegations that he pressured a subordinate employee to perform sexual favors. 

Jenn Budd, a former Border Patrol agent for six years turned outspoken critic, said the agency could do more to crack down on sexual misconduct, including by using outside experts to conduct investigations and implementing stronger disciplinary measures. 

“The Border Patrol has the opportunity to do the right thing in this, and they just continually keep doing the wrong thing in this.”

Rebecca Hayes, a professor at Central Michigan University who has studied sexual violence for more than a decade, and including in online contexts, called the behavior Prishker is accused of “image-based sexual abuse.”

That type of behavior should be cause for alarm, Hayes said.

“People who have engaged in sexual misconduct should not be in any type of leadership role around women or children that are in extremely vulnerable positions,” she said. 

When Parker first saw the Youtube video in January after another aid worker sent it to her, she said she was angry and then relieved.

“It was no longer my word against his,” she said.