A federal jury convicted a former police officer Wednesday for sexually assaulting two inmates under his custody during his time in service.
After a two-hour-long deliberation at the end of a two-day trial, the jury convicted 25-year-old Matthew Lee Sepulveda of Edinburg, Texas, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. When Sepulveda was an officer with the Progreso Police Department from April 17 to July 2, 2019, he forced oral sex on two men in custody, the release stated. One of the victims was a minor, aged 17.
Jury convicts former officer for violating civil rights#McAllenTx #CivilRights https://t.co/byCpE5WokL
— US Attorney SDTX (@USAO_SDTX) March 10, 2021
The older victim told the court that after he was arrested and put in a jail cell, Sepulveda approached him and took him to another office. (RELATED: New Jersey Cop Arrested In Atlantic City For Trying To Meet Up With Underage Girls For Sex)
The victim claimed Sepulveda began asking him sexually charged questions before performing fellatio on him. The victim told the court he was afraid because Sepulveda was a cop and he thought he could not leave. DNA evidence from the victim’s underwear confirmed his testimony, the press release stated.
The younger victim, a minor at the time of the incident, was taken to the police department after a vehicle he was traveling in got pulled over and he could not contact his parents. Sepulveda escorted this victim to an office within the department as well, where he then asked the boy sexually-charged questions before forcing fellatio on him, the release said.
The jury found that the cop’s conduct with the minor “resulted in bodily injury and included attempted aggravated sexual abuse, aggravated sexual abuse and kidnapping,” according to the release.
Sepulveda will be sentenced May 20 and faces up to life in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.