Case Closed: Border Patrol Agent Cleared of Kidnapping, Sexual Battery

Charges have been dropped against a Border Patrol agent who was arrested in May 2011 on suspicion of kidnapping, sexual battery and false imprisonment of an undocumented Mexican woman three years earlier in Banning.

Prosecutors "received information that led us to believe that he was not guilty of the crime charged," District Attorney's spokesman John Hall said Wednesday.

The case against Arturo H. Ascencio, 40, of Hemet, is now closed, Hall said. Before the charges were dismissed, he was facing up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

Banning police investigators and a Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement team arrested Ascencio about 6 a.m. May 5 at his home in Hemet, according to Banning police.

The woman was 42 years old and she was an undocumented Mexican national at the time of the in August 2008, Banning police said.

Ascencio was a Border Patrol agent assigned to the Coachella and Imperial Valley area, police said. It was not clear Wednesday if he had returned to work.

The charges against Ascencio were dropped at his last court appearance, Hall said.