Man charged with sexual assault was border agent

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, Associated Press | January 7, 2013 | Updated: January 7, 2013

MCALLEN, Texas (AP) — A Border Patrol agent is accused of sexually assaulting a girl for several years, beginning when she was 11 years old and before he was hired as a police officer for a South Texas school district, officials said Monday.
Jaime Ocanas, 33, is charged with continuous sexual assault of a minor. The alleged victim told Pharr police that the abuse occurred for about six years and started in 1998, when Ocanas was 19.
Ocanas worked for the police force at the McAllen Independent School District from December 2007 until he was fired Dec. 17, district spokesman Mark May said. May noted that Ocanas, like all district employees, underwent a background check before being hired. May said Ocanas was fired after the district learned of the sexual assault investigation.
Ocanas had previously worked as a U.S. Border Patrol agent, though the agency declined Monday to say when or for how long he was employed there. Border Patrol spokesman Henry Mendiola said Ocanas had worked at the agency's Rio Grande City station.
Reached at his McAllen home Monday by The Associated Press, Ocanas said, "I have no comment right now" and hung up. He was arrested Wednesday and released on bond the next day.
Court records indicate a woman told Pharr police in October that Ocanas had sexually assaulted her between November 1998 and November 2004, beginning when she was 11 years old.
The woman told police the assaults occurred in multiple locations, including a home in Pharr, and that Ocanas sometimes gave her alcohol beforehand, according to court records. The victim was between the ages of 11 and 16 when the alleged abuse occurred, according to court documents.