Saying she had “serious concerns” about the safety of the community, a federal judge on Monday ordered a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent held without bond on charges he used his gun and badge to force his way into hotel rooms and rob and sexually assault at least four prostitutes in Chicago’s suburbs in 2022.
Luis Uribe, 44, was charged in an indictment unsealed last week with 10 counts of deprivation of civil rights under color of law and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. If convicted Uribe faces a mandatory minimum seven years in federal prison and a maximum of life.
In asking for release on bond, Uribe’s court-appointed lawyer, Mary Higgins Judge, said he is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran with no criminal history and strong ties to the community. Judge said Uribe is still employed on desk duty by Customs and Border Protection and noted he has not tried to flee despite knowing he was under investigation.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Keri Holleb Hotaling, however, sided with prosecutors and ordered Uribe held pending trial, saying the evidence against him appeared to be strong and that she was particularly disturbed by allegations he used his service weapon and badge to commit the assaults.
“To me, a position of law enforcement, a federal law enforcement officer who carries a weapon, poses a danger to the community, and that is something I have very serious concerns about,” Hotaling said.
After the hearing, two uniformed Customs and Border Protection officers who had been seated in the courtroom gallery approached Uribe and appeared to hand him some paperwork to sign. Uribe’s attorney told reporters he declined to sign anything without consulting his union representative.
The Department of Homeland Security has declined to comment directly on Uribe’s case, citing federal privacy laws. Last week, the agency wrote in a statement that CBP “takes all allegations of employee misconduct seriously.”
“Overall, CBP employees, officers and agents perform their duties with honor and distinction, working tirelessly every day to keep our country safe,” the statement read. “CBP is committed to ensuring that all employees are held to the highest standards of integrity, professionalism, and personal conduct.”
According to a U.S. military spokesperson, Uribe served in the Marine Corps from 1999 to 2003 and rose to the rank of corporal, specializing as a field radio operator and earning several medals for good conduct. His last duty assignment was with the 5th Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Uribe joined CBP in 2009. Federal prosecutors have said that at the time of the alleged offenses, Uribe was an officer assigned “primarily” to O’Hare International Airport and worked on both customs and immigration issues.
According to a court filing last week, Uribe on six separate occasions in 2022 used his “service weapon, badge or credentials, as well as the power of his position,” to force victims — who were all of Chinese descent — to submit to sex or provide him with cash. One of the four victims was attacked three different times, prosecutors said.
The first attack occurred in February 2022 at a Schaumburg hotel where one woman, identified only as Victim A, had come from out of state to work in the sex trade, prosecutors said.
“One day, while at the hotel, Victim A heard a knock at the door and opened the door,” prosecutors alleged in the filing. “It was (Uribe), who pushed his way into her room and displayed what Victim A described as an ID card with his picture on it.”
Uribe “stated that he was a police officer, that he was investigating Victim A, and that she needed to cooperate with him,” the prosecution filing said.
Uribe then pushed the woman onto the bed and put his gun to her head and ordered her to perform oral sex, prosecutors said. The victim begged him to stop and offered him money, which he eventually accepted. As he left the room, Uribe “pointed his gun at Victim A and told her not to look at him,” prosecutors said.
Another woman, Victim B, was staying at a hotel in Naperville when Uribe forced his way into her room, identified himself as police, demanded cash and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.
That victim later moved to a different room because of the attack, but Uribe “victimized her again” in that room as well, prosecutors said. Victim B then switched hotels and planned to leave Chicago, but before she escaped Uribe sexually attacked her a third time, striking her in the face when she screamed, prosecutors said.
As word of the attacks spread, another sex worker was tasked by a China-based boss to meet with Uribe at a seafood buffet restaurant in the northwest suburbs. The goal, prosecutors said, was to surreptitiously get Uribe’s photograph so people could be warned, and also to offer him a deal: free sex if he stopped attacking workers.
“Defendant agreed, however, he did not abide by the terms of the bargain,” prosecutors said.
On Oct. 2, 2022, Uribe attacked a third woman, Victim C, at a hotel in Schaumburg, again brandishing his gun and badge and demanding cash and sex, prosecutors said. Two days later, Schaumburg police interviewed that victim and collected forensic evidence from the room.
Tollway records analyzed by the FBI showed Uribe had left work at O’Hare that day and traveled toward Schaumburg, prosecutors said in the filing. While on the highway, he allegedly searched in Google Maps for the hotel where Victim C was staying.
The fourth victim, Victim D, was attacked at a different hotel in Schaumburg a short time after she’d reported Victim C’s assault to their boss, prosecutors said. In that incident, Uribe was “about to rape” Victim D when there was a knock at the door and he fled the hotel.
According to the prosecution memo, the investigation continues and the government “believes there may be additional victims identified in the future.”
In asking for bond to be denied, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Shih told the judge Uribe’s DNA was found on hotel bedding after one of the alleged attacks. The FBI was also able to match toll plaza records and Google Maps searches to place Uribe at or near the hotels when the assaults occurred, Shih said.
Shih said Uribe has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Mexico and “has extreme incentive” to flee due to the life sentence he’s potentially facing.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com