Ex-jail guard sentenced to 10 years
Calling his crime an abuse of power, a District Court judge on Tuesday handed down the maximum sentence to Enock Arvizo, a former corrections officer convicted of raping a woman inmate in a courthouse elevator.
Second Judicial District Judge Briana Zamora sentenced Arvizo to 10 years in prison, and he must register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.
Arvizo, who worked as a Metropolitan Detention Center transport officer, initially faced sex abuse allegations involving four women inmates and assault charges against a fifth. Charges involving two of those women were dismissed early on due to
the death of a key witness.
“They are shackled. They’re handcuffed. You’re in uniform. You had a gun. And you have complete control and power over them,” Zamora said. “Whether they said they wished to do something, or didn’t say anything at all, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Along with the rape conviction, Arvizo was found guilty by a jury of two petty misdemeanor counts of assault for attempting to kiss an inmate in his custody. Arvizo’s attorney, Stephen Lane, did not comment on the sentence, but said he plans to appeal the convictions.
During the hearing, Lane pointed out that Arvizo has no criminal record and had done well on pre-trial supervision. He asked Zamora for probation and said his client knew it was wrong to have sex with an inmate but didn’t know that it was against the law.
“This is opportunistic behavior that he displayed,” Lane said, “and the court has ample opportunity here to take away the opportunity, to make sure that there is no opportunity while he’s being supervised, while he’s undergoing rehabilitative therapy.”
Soon after allegations against him surfaced, Arvizo admitted in a note to his employer that he had sex with an inmate in April 2015. While Arvizo has maintained that the encounters were consensual, Zamora ruled months ago that inmates can’t legally consent to sex with corrections officers, and that accused corrections officers can’t use consent as a defense in a rape case.
In a statement to the court, Arvizo apologized for what he called a “grave mistake.” He asked for probation and said incarceration would not offer the help that he needs.
“My bad decision on that day can never be changed, all I can do is move forward and prove, not only to my friends and family, but to society that I am not that sexual predator the state is stating that I am,” he said.
Arvizo’s wife also addressed the court, as did a fellow member of his church.
Prosecutors with the Attorney General’s Office, which handled the case, asked Zamora in court documents to send a message to others in positions of authority over inmates that criminal behavior would lead to a criminal punishment.
They said that a diagnostic evaluation found that Arvizo had a pervasive pattern of exploitation and deceitfulness and “what appears to be a shameless lack of empathy for his wife and children, and a lack of remorse for his behaviors.”
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Attorney General Hector Balderas said he was pleased with the outcome of a case that went to trial a total of five times.
“Anytime anyone in New Mexico wears a badge and is in a position of public trust, they should follow the law and do everything they can to entrust and protect these individuals,” he said.