Ex-border agent in San Diego charged with sexual battery

A former Border Patrol agent in San Diego is facing up to several years in prison after authorities charged him with sexually assaulting a woman and falsely imprisoning another. 

The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office charged Juan Prishker last week with two felonies, sexual battery and false imprisonment, and four misdemeanor counts of distributing obscene material between December 2022 and January 2024. 

inewsource previously reported that a migrant aid volunteer accused Prishker of cornering her between their vehicles and showing her photos of his genitals when the two encountered each other at the border in December.

Weeks later, a video posted to YouTube appeared to show a Border Patrol agent – identified by the same aid worker as Prishker – showing photos of his genitals and then exposing himself to another woman. (The video has since been removed.)

The charges reveal a pattern of alleged misconduct dating back a year before the incidents inewsource reporting brought to light. They raise fresh questions about whether Prishker’s employer, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, knew of the alleged sexual assault from 2022 and what action, if any, the agency took to investigate. 

Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, declined to discuss the allegations against Prishker citing federal privacy laws, but confirmed that he was previously employed and has since resigned. The agency also previously declined inewsource’s request for Prishker’s personnel records. 

“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,” a CBP spokesperson said in a statement. 

CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates misconduct among its personnel, is reviewing the incident. 

An inewsource reporter attempted to reach Prishker by phone Monday evening. The person who answered hung up after the reporter identified herself and asked about the allegations against Prishker.

The reporter later received a call from a number with a caller ID for a woman whose last name was Prishker. The woman hung up after the reporter answered and identified herself. When the reporter called back, a woman asked, “Who are you with?” and then hung up after the reporter identified herself with inewsource. 

inewsource was unable to confirm how long Prishker was employed as a Border Patrol agent, though a San Diego Union-Tribune article from 2010 identified him as an employee at the time.

According to charging documents, Prishker is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a 2022 incident in which he “unlawfully restrained” the woman with “an accomplice” who was not named in documents. 

The day after Christmas a year later, authorities allege Prishker falsely imprisoned another woman and distributed obscene material. Though the charging documents do not provide details about the victim, those charges could relate to the incident reported by Karen Parker, the migrant aid volunteer. That day, Parker said Prishker cornered her and showed her photos of his genitals near the border in Jacumba. 

Parker detailed the incident in a personal injury claim she filed against CBP in April, in which she asked for $6 million in damages due to the “significant emotional distress, fear and anxiety” the incident caused her.

At the time, Parker was providing medical aid to migrants who had crossed into the U.S. between gaps in the border wall and turned themselves in to authorities. Migrants often waited hours or days in the open desert until agents could process and transport them to a facility. 

Parker said she drove up to Prishker near the border wall and the two stood between their vehicles. In a brief exchange, Parker asked about getting medical care for the migrants and Prishker mumbled about “good and evil,” said he wanted to show her something and then pulled out his phone to reveal two photos of his genitals, according to Parker’s claim. 

Parker then backed away toward her car and asked again about the migrants. Prishker said he would let other agents know and Parker headed back to the migrant holding area, according to her claim. 

Authorities also charged Prishker with three counts of distributing obscene material on or around Jan. 29. The charges do not provide details, but could relate to the incident captured on video by vloggers and posted to YouTube the same day. 

In another version of the video, posted to the vlogger’s Patreon account, a Border Patrol agent appears to pull out his phone to display a photo of his genitals to a woman who identified herself as an adult film actress, as well as two other men in the entourage visiting the border.

The woman exclaims, “Oh, it’s his penis!” as the vloggers appear to encourage the agent, laughing and making sexually explicit comments. Later, standing behind the opened door of a Border Patrol van, the agent appears to lower his pants to expose his genitals to the woman. 

inewsource attempted to reach the woman and one of the vloggers featured in the video, but did not hear back by publication time.

The District Attorney’s Office did not respond to specific questions about the charges against Prishker, including whether the charges were related to the incidents in December and January that inewsource reported on. 

“We cannot discuss the facts or evidence at this time,” said Tanya Sierra, assistant director of communication for the office. 

Lilian Serrano, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition, an immigrant advocacy group, said the charges are “a step in the right direction.” 

But Serrano wonders whether the alleged sexual assault in 2022 was reported at the time and, if so, why it took nearly two years, plus additional allegations and video footage capturing one incident, for investigators to bring charges. 

“Why did it take that to investigate?” she said. 

Serrano said CBP should update the public on the results of the investigation into Prishker, and any agent facing allegations of misconduct. 

“They’re armed. They have shields. They are supposed to be public servants,” Serrano said. 

U.S. Border Patrol is part of Customs and Border Protection, the largest federal law enforcement agency with more than 45,000 personnel. About 200 million U.S. residents live within its enforcement zone – a territory stretching 100 miles inward from every land and maritime border.

CBP releases some information on misconduct investigations in an annual report on employee accountability. The most recent report available on CBP’s website is from 2022. 

That year, the agency’s Office of Responsibility received more than 10,000 reports of misconduct, a third of which concerned Border Patrol personnel, and investigations led to 152 disciplinary actions including suspensions, removals, reprimands and counseling orders. 

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 August, a jury in Arizona found a former Border Patrol agent guilty of kidnapping a 15-year old girl and sexually assaulting her in his apartment in 2022. The same month, authorities in New York arrested another agent, accusing him of forcing women to expose themselves in virtual interviews as a requirement to enter the country. 

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.

Parker said she was shocked when learning about the newly filed criminal charges against Prishker. She said she was glad she reported the incident.

“I’m grateful the system did their job. He’s been charged finally. It’s been almost a year,” Parker said.

For her part, Parker is looking forward to moving on to the next chapter in her life.

“Cause this has changed everything in my life. Everything.” 

Prishker’s arraignment is scheduled for next month.