A D.C. man has been charged with raping a woman in Oxon Hill, Maryland, while pretending to be an officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The incident happened Tuesday at around 8:15 p.m. in a Sunrise Shopping Center parking lot, according to a news release from Prince George’s County police.
Police said Victor Antonio Reed, 26, approached a Hispanic woman in the parking lot with a badge, identifying himself as an agent with ICE before offering an ultimatum: enter his car or be deported. An initial investigation disclosed that Reed sexually assaulted the woman inside of the vehicle.
Reed eventually let the victim leave the car and called for help.
The 26-year-old was identified and taken into custody during a traffic stop in Temple Hills on Thursday, police said.
Reed was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree rape, impersonating a law enforcement officer and other charges related to the assault.
Darius Reeves, the acting field office director for Baltimore’s ICE enforcement and removal office, commented on the agency’s response to the assault, saying that the agency “takes a victim-centered approach to immigration enforcement in order to facilitate access to justice and victim-based immigration benefits by noncitizen crime victims.”
“Absent exceptional circumstances, ICE will refrain from taking civil immigration enforcement action against victims of crime who come forward with pertinent information,” Reeves said in a release.
Police ask anyone with information is asked to call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-8477.
