A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent allegedly 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, according to federal charges made public Tuesday.
The attacks by Luis Uribe were allegedly so brazen that at one point he was offered “free commercial sex” with workers if he stopped, according to federal prosecutors. Uribe initially agreed, but later went on to commit similar assaults against two other victims in Schaumburg, prosecutors said.
Uribe, 44, was charged in a 12-page indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday 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.
The conduct allegedly took place between February and October of 2022. It was not clear whether Uribe took part in the recent Operation Midway Blitz.
At the time of alleged offenses, Uribe was as an officer assigned “primarily” to O’Hare International Airport, the indictment alleged.
The Department of Homeland Security had no immediate comment on the case or Uribe’s current job status.
Uribe, of the far northwest suburb of Pingree Grove, was arrested Tuesday morning and appeared hours later before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keri Holleb Hotaling at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, where his attorney entered a not guilty plea to all counts.
Dressed in a white polo shirt and black pants, the bearded Uribe answered “yes ma’am” when the judge asked if he understood his rights, but he otherwise said very little in court.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Shih moved to have Uribe held without bond pending trial as both a danger to the community and a flight risk.
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Uribe has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Mexico and has frequently traveled internationally, and allegedly used encrypted messaging applications to hide his involvement in the alleged crimes, Shih wrote in a memo filed after court Tuesday.
“(Uribe) was a sworn CBP officer when he committed these offenses, meaning that he was willing to violate his oath to commit rapes and robberies,” Shih said. “There is every reason to believe that now that he is facing significant potential jail time, defendant would continue to attempt to destroy evidence and obstruct justice, including through potential witness tampering.”
Uribe’s court-appointed attorney said she’ll seek a bond, likely through the posting of property as collateral.
Hotaling set a detention hearing for Monday afternoon.
According to the government’s bond filing Tuesday, 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 are 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.”