A Texas border city police officer faces a possible life term in prison after a federal jury found him guilty of violating the civil rights of two prisoners, including a migrant.
Former Progreso Police Officer Mathew Sepulveda is facing a possible life term following his conviction in McAllen this week. Sepulveda was a police officer with Progreso PD at the time the sexual assaults took place at the station.
According to the arrest affidavit, Sepulveda pulled over a vehicle on June 28, 2019, and arrested the driver, a male living in the country illegally. Once he had the teen at the jail, Sepulveda told the man that he had “to do something” or he could not be released. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, one of the victims told jurors that he felt like he had no recourse since Sepulveda was a police officer.
The second victim was a passenger in the vehicle who was not able to identify himself at the time of detention. The victim was 17 at the time. The police officer also performed oral sex on him in order to let him go free.
Authorities took Sepulveda into custody pending sentencing on May 20, the U.S Attorney’s Office announced. Prior to the conviction, Sepulveda was free on bond.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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