Why This Matters
U.S. Border Patrol is part of Customs and Border Protection, the largest federal law enforcement agency. When Border Patrol agents are accused of misconduct, few details about how cases are handled internally ever make it to light.
A former Border Patrol agent in San Diego pleaded not guilty to one felony count each of sexual battery and false imprisonment and four counts of “obscene matter” Thursday afternoon at the the Central Courthouse in downtown.
Juan Prishker appeared before a state Superior Court judge after authorities filed the charges late last month, accusing him of sexually assaulting and restraining a woman, falsely imprisoning another and sharing obscene material in several alleged incidents between December 2022 and January 2024.
Prishker has resigned from the U.S. Border Patrol, an agency spokesperson said. Prishker declined further requests for comment at the courthouse Thursday.
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 last 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.
Vincent Chen, a San Diego County deputy district attorney, confirmed that five of the six charges against Prishker – for false imprisonment and obscene matter – relate to those incidents which inewsource reported on.
The final charge of sexual battery relates to an alleged incident in 2022 in which authorities say Prishker restrained a woman and sexually assaulted her. The initial charging document mentioned an accomplice in this charge, but Chen said that was an error.
Chen did not confirm whether the alleged victim in that incident was a migrant, but said that Prishker was on duty in all three alleged incidents.
Judge John Pro also ordered Prishker to stay at least 100 yards from two alleged victims, Karen Parker, the migrant aid worker from the 2023 incident, and the woman from the 2022 incident.
Parker attended the arraignment Thursday.
“I urge the court to hold him accountable, not only for the pain he caused me but for the betrayal of public trust his actions represent,” Parker said in a statement.
Parker also filed a claim against U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency overseeing Border Patrol, asking for $6 million in damages for the emotional distress the incident caused her.
Through her attorney, Eugene Iredale, Parker filed a federal civil lawsuit against the agency Thursday.
Judge Pro scheduled a preliminary hearing for February 4.
Type of Content
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
