Security guard offers to help migrant seeking asylum, then rapes him in office, feds say
An armed security guard isolated a migrant inside a locked office, where federal prosecutors said he raped the man after offering to help him with asylum application paperwork in New York City last year.
The former guard, Jimmy Solano-Arias, pleaded guilty in April to lying to federal agents in connection with the sexual assault at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building in Manhattan, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Now Solano-Arias, 45, of the Bronx, has been sentenced to five years in prison, prosecutors said in a Sept. 13 news release.
His federal public defender, Sylvie Jill Levine, didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Sept. 16.
“Jimmy Solano-Arias used his position as an armed security officer at a federal building to sexually assault a vulnerable asylum seeker,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “In so doing, Solano-Arias abused a person he was charged with protecting, and then lied to cover up his crime.”
Solano-Arias worked for a private security service, Paragon Systems, when he was stationed as an armed guard at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building, where multiple FBI offices and an immigration court is located, according to prosecutors.
The night of May 3, 2023, the migrant who was assaulted by Solano-Arias waited in line for several hours with other migrants outside the building to submit an asylum application inside, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
After the building opened, he walked in around 7 a.m. on May 4, 2023, and received paperwork to fill out, court documents say.
The migrant, who prosecutors said spoke “limited” English, encountered Solano-Arias, who was on duty and spoke to him in Spanish, according to prosecutors.
Solano-Arias offered to help the man with his asylum application paperwork, then led him through sections of the federal building that aren’t accessible to the public, prosecutors said.
Solano-Arias isolated him inside a locked office on the second floor and then forced him to perform oral sex, according to prosecutors.
Ahead of sentencing, Levine wrote in court documents that Solano-Arias “believed — however erroneous this was in hindsight — that the man was flirting with him.”
Prosecutors argued that this assertion is an attempt by Solano-Arias to blame the man instead of “truly expressing remorse,” writing in court documents that his “contention is absurd on its face.”
When the man tried to resist Solano-Arias and his demand for oral sex, prosecutors said Solano-Arias reached for his gun, causing the man to fear for his safety.
After the sexual assault, the man left and reported what happened to authorities, according to prosecutors.
The next morning, FBI agents met with Solano-Arias during his work shift, prosecutors said.
That’s when he lied to FBI agents, telling them that the sexual assault was a consensual sex act, according to prosecutors.
Then he was arrested, prosecutors said.
Levine wrote that Solano-Arias was “disgraced and extremely remorseful,” and requested the court to issue him a sentence that didn’t involve incarceration, court documents show.
Solano-Arias’ prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.
This story was originally published September 16, 2024 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Security guard offers to help migrant seeking asylum, then rapes him in office, feds say."
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