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Police Say Immigrant Targeted For Sex

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By VALERIE KALFRIN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 15, 2008

TAMPA - A man impersonating a police officer told a pregnant illegal immigrant to have sex with him or he would have her children taken away, police said.
Tampa police are investigating whether Edwin Nieves, 38, of Temple Terrace targeted other undocumented immigrants.

Nieves was held without bail at Orient Road Jail on Monday. He is charged with three felonies: kidnapping, falsely impersonating an officer and aggravated battery of a pregnant woman. He was arrested at his home Sunday.

Police say Nieves approached a 23-year-old woman who is seven months pregnant outside her home while she played with her three children in a fenced yard on July 5. Police said he identified himself as a police officer and was wearing a utility belt, a silver badge and what appeared to be a police radio.

Nieves told the woman he was taking her into custody for an immigration issue and threatened to have authorities remove her children, police said.

The woman told detectives she was in the country illegally, police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said. She went with Nieves in a black Mitsubishi Mirage, leaving her children in the yard, she said.

"She thought she was being arrested," Davis said.

Deportation Effective Threat

Deportation is an effective threat, said Sandra Lyth, director of Hispanic services for the YWCA of Tampa Bay. She cited U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics that show 164,000 criminals were placed in deportation proceedings in the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30.

"This is not an isolated incident in terms of how she was approached, how she was talked to and how she was frightened," Lyth said.

The YWCA's Hispanic Outreach Program, which assisted about 2,700 people nationwide last year, has helped several victims who were "forced into sexual contact" or provided money to people threatening to deport them while posing as lawyers, sales agents and other authority figures, she said.

"The people we deal with don't make a distinction between the local police and the federal authorities," Lyth said. "They are taken advantage of routinely by Americans and people of their own culture."

Laws Protect Victims

A few blocks from the woman's home, Nieves told her he would release her if she had sex with him, Davis said. Nieves began fondling her, but the woman grew concerned about her children left alone and persuaded him to let her go home and freshen up before things progressed, police said.

The two arranged to meet again in 30 minutes, Davis said.

Once home, the woman told relatives what happened. Her husband circled the neighborhood, saw the Mitsubishi and wrote down the license plate number, Davis said.

They then called police.

Investigators tracked down the license number and showed the woman photographs of several men, one of whom she identified as the man who approached her.

It was Nieves, Davis said.

Nieves told detectives he worked as a security guard, but Davis said she did not know where he was employed. When he was arrested, he was wearing a black shirt with "FBI" on it, she said.

"He was pretty comfortable doing this," Davis said.

She asked anyone who has had contact with Nieves when he was disguised as an officer to call police at (813) 231-6130.

"Regardless of your immigration status, you are still protected by our laws," she said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at vkalfrin@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7800.

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