A woman testifying in a criminal case against a former Border Patrol agent told the court that the agent, who had worked for years in San Diego’s border region, reached under her clothing and touched her breasts during a 2022 incident.
Identified in the court as Jane Doe, the woman was the first of four witnesses to take the stand Friday in a preliminary hearing during which Superior Court Judge David Berry weighed whether there was sufficient evidence for charges against the agent to continue to trial.
In October, the San Diego County Deputy District Attorney’s Office charged Juan Prishker, a former Border Patrol agent of nearly 20 years, with one felony count of sexual battery, one felony count of false imprisonment and four misdemeanor counts of “obscene matter” stemming from three alleged incidents between December 2022 and January 2024.
Berry tossed out the misdemeanor charges against Prishker, who the government alleged showed photos of male genitals to an aid worker and three vloggers. Berry found that the photo, which was introduced in court, did not meet the requirement for the charges of obscene matter.
Berry did, however, find probable cause for the two felony charges, the sexual battery charge involving Doe and false imprisonment charge involving the aid worker, Karen Parker, who alleged Prishker blocked her between their vehicles after showing her the photos.
Parker told the court she was near the border that evening looking for help for a migrant family with a medical issue. Parker said Prishker rested his hand on his service weapon during the incident and didn’t use physical force against her. The judge declined a motion from Prishker’s attorney to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor, saying that there was sufficient evidence that Prishker was “menacing.”
“He is a uniformed federal officer on duty and someone has come to him for help,” Berry said.
In June, inewsource published an investigation into Parker’s allegations against Prishker and an incident captured in a video posted online which appeared to show a Border Patrol agent, identified in court on Friday as Prishker, sharing a photo of genitals to a group of vloggers. Prishker has since resigned from the Border Patrol.
The criminal charges months later revealed a new allegation, from Doe, going back a year before Parker’s alleged incident with Prishker. Until Friday, few details about Doe or her allegations had been made public.
Prishker did not take the stand on Friday. Berry scheduled the next hearing for May.
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