Federal trial begins for O'Hare CBP agent accused of sexual assaults, robberies
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A federal trial opened this week for Luis Uribe, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent who was stationed at O'Hare International Airport at the time of alleged assaults in 2022, with prosecutors accusing him of sexually assaulting and robbing four women and his defense attorney disputing the allegations.
During opening statements, defense attorney Michael Clancy criticized the credibility of the four women at the center of the case.
"They are hustlers. They are prostitutes. They are liars," Clancy said.
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Prosecutors allege that Uribe sexually assaulted and robbed four women on six separate occasions between February and October 2022. According to an indictment filed late last year, Uribe used his service weapon and badge to threaten the women, all of whom are Chinese nationals, forcing them to have sex with him or robbing them. The alleged assaults took place in hotel rooms in Schaumburg and Naperville.
Clancy argued that his client committed no crimes and said the case involves consensual encounters with women he hired for sex.
"They played him like a fiddle," Clancy said. "He is the perfect mark, an immigration police officer."
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Shih told jurors that Uribe abused the authority entrusted to him as a federal law enforcement officer.
"The defendant had a responsibility to serve and protect. Instead, he robed and he raped," Shih said.
According to prosecutors, concerns about Uribe's behavior surfaced by March 2022. They said a woman who had allegedly previously been paid by Uribe for sex took a photograph of him during a lunch meeting and distributed it to other women. Prosecutors said the woman also offered him free sex if he stopped attacking women.
Prosecutors contend the alleged assaults continued despite that interaction. They said one of the women reported the matter to Schaumburg police in October 2022. They also stated that investigators have DNA evidence and FBI tollway data that places Uribe in vicinity of the Schaumburg hotel where the final alleged assault occurred.
Uribe's weapon was taken away and he was assigned to desk duty shortly after the first report was made to police, according to information presented in court. It was not clear during the proceedings whether he remains on the Department of Homeland Security payroll. A spokesperson said federal privacy laws prohibit comment on individual cases.
All four alleged victims are expected to testify during the trial.
