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Story's Details Led To Rape Charge

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 20, 2007

TAMPA - Investigators used SunPass records and a Jamaican woman's memory for detail to file rape charges against an immigration agent who insisted he drove her only from one detention center to another.

The 39-year-old mother of two said Wilfredo Vazquez stopped at his house in between and forced her to have sex. He was arrested in Tampa on Friday and appeared in U.S. District Court here Monday to face charges of rape and abusing his authority.

Records released Monday give this account of the Sept. 21 incident:

The woman had been held three months at a federal detention center, awaiting deportation for making false statements about her passport and her legal status, when she was placed in the custody of Vazquez, then an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Vazquez's last assignment of the day was to take her from the Krome Service Processing Center west of Miami to the Broward Transition Center in Pompano Beach. She was the only passenger. He drove a white van with markings from the Department of Homeland Security.

In a sworn statement, the woman said Vazquez removed her restraints when he put her in the back of the van behind a partition. He told her he would move her up front if she was a "good girl."

After leaving the processing center, Vazquez pulled the van over and escorted the woman to the front passenger seat. He let her use his cell phone to make personal calls, she said.

After that, Vazquez asked her to show him her underwear, she said. She said she refused. She said he used a vulgar phrase, telling her he wanted to have sex with her. Then he drove her to his house in Tamarac, she said.

The woman described the route in detail to investigators, according to a federal criminal affidavit. She provided a description of the house inside and out. She said once inside, Vazquez told her to take off her clothes and left the room, returning with a condom.

She told authorities she didn't outwardly resist because she was afraid of Vazquez. He was wearing his firearm, she said. She told investigators he forced himself on her. "At all times, Vazquez was wearing his uniform and kept his gun and belt attached to his waist," the criminal complaint states.

The woman told investigators they returned to the van and stopped at a gas station next to the Broward Transition Center, where he moved her from the front passenger seat to the back.

According to records, the pair left Krome at 12:30 p.m. and arrived at the Broward Transition center about 2:15 p.m.

Six days after the incident, Vazquez was interviewed by investigators and "vehemently" denied making any stops other than the gas station. He denied having sexual contact with the woman or taking her to his house.

Investigators searched Vazquez's home and confirmed the description given by the woman. SunPass records confirmed that Vazquez had left Florida's Turnpike two miles from his home at 1:24 p.m. on Sept. 21 and re-entered the turnpike at 1:48 p.m., court records show.

Authorities say Vazquez was fired from his immigration job shortly after the allegations were made. He worked for Immigration and Customs Enforcement less than a year.

When he was arrested Friday, Vazquez was on temporary security assignment at MacDill Air Force Base as a reservist from Homestead Air Reserve Base, MacDill spokeswoman Diane Green said.

His attorney, James Rubin, told a reporter after the Monday hearing, "When it comes right down to it, anybody can make allegations."

Vazquez was being held Saturday without bail at Orient Road Jail, Hillsborough County arrest records showed. He was expected to be transported to South Florida.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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