Affidavit: On-Duty El Paso Police Officer Forced Woman To Perform Sex Act On Him

Updated Feb. 25: A four-year veteran of the El Paso Police Department has been arrested and charged with sexual assault after he allegedly forced a woman to give him oral sex during a family violence call.

Zake Rivera, 29, was booked Thursday afternoon. He is a patrol officer with the Westside Regional Command Center.

“It’s a black eye for us,” El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said of the charges. “When we do have problems like this we deal with them immediately and correctly so that the officer alleged to have committed the crime will be treated fairly. At the same time, we won’t tolerate (these charges).”

Chief Allen said the incident happened while Rivera and a partner responded to a family violence call at a home on Jan. 23, 2011. Rivera and his partner are said to have separated the husband and wife during questioning, as is the protocol for domestic disturbances.

According to the complaint affidavit, Rivera escorted the wife into his patrol unit and had her sit in the back driver’s side seat with the door open.

“The defendant (Rivera) had the victim perform oral sex on him without the victim’s consent. Evidence was located and collected from the victim’s clothing,” according to the affidavit. “The recovered evidence contained DNA found to be associated with the defendant.”

The woman also positively identified the police officer through a photo line-up.

Chief Allen said the victim reported the alleged assault shortly after the officers left. Rivera has been off the streets and on administrative duty since the alleged assault was reported.

Chief Allen said the process to terminate Rivera has started and will take effect on March 7. Rivera was released from jail Thursday afternoon on $25,000 bond.

Allen said it took a month to bring the charges to light because the police department is not equipped to handle the evidence on its own.

“We don’t have a lab to process the kind of evidence that we are looking at and so we needed the Texas Department of Public Safety to come forward and use their facilities,” said Allen.