ONTARIO, Calif. () Two staff members at a Southern California surgery center have been charged after allegations they assaulted and interfered with immigration officers attempting to detain a migrant in the U.S. illegally, according to the Justice Department.
Jose de Jesus Ortega, 38, of Highland, California, was arrested Friday and was expected to make his first court appearance on the same day in U.S. District Court in Riverside.
Officers say they are still looking for Danielle Nadine Davila, 33, of Corona, California, for the same alleged offense.
Both are charged with assaulting a federal officer and conspiracy to prevent by force and intimidation a federal officer from discharging his duties, according to the Justice Department.
The officers, according to the Justice Department, were following a truck with three men when the vehicle turned into the parking lot of a surgery center in Ontario. Officers approached the men after the men had exited the truck, and two of them ran away. One of the fleeing men, whom the Justice Department described as a migrant from Honduras, was partially detained near the surgery center’s front entrance before he resisted and pulled away.
Ortega and Davila, both dressed in medical scrubs, “interfered” with the arrest, according to the Justice Department.
If convicted, they could face eight years in federal prison on the assault count and up to six years in federal prison on the conspiracy count.
