Ex-NYC federal building guard gets 5-year sentence in charge related to sex assault of asylum seeker

NEW YORK (AP) — A former security guard at a federal building in New York City where the FBI has its offices was sentenced Friday to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge related to the sexual assault of an asylum seeker.

Jimmy Solano-Arias, 45, of the Bronx was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Paul G. Gardephe.

Solano-Arias had pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI about the sexual assault, which occurred May 4, 2023 at 26 Federal Plaza, a building across the street from the federal courts complex where the FBI also has its New York headquarters.

Prosecutors have said that if the case had gone to trial, the victim would have testified.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a release that Solano-Arias used his position as an armed security officer at a federal building to sexually assault a vulnerable asylum seeker.

“In so doing, Solano-Arias abused a person he was charged with protecting, and then lied to cover up his crime,” Williams said.

Without his plea deal with prosecutors, Solano-Arias could have faced life in prison if he had been convicted of a charge of deprivation of rights under color of law involving kidnapping and aggravated sexual abuse.

Solano-Arias, who said he was a lawyer in the Dominican Republic before he came to the U.S. and gained citizenship, was hired by a company that provides security services at the lower Manhattan building near City Hall, the city’s police headquarters and numerous courts.

According to court documents, Solano-Arias spotted the victim in a line and offered to assist him with paperwork.

He eventually led the man to a locked office where he put his hand on his holstered firearm and demanded that the man perform oral sex, a criminal complaint said.

Although he initially resisted, the man complied because he saw Solano-Arias’s hand on his firearm and feared for his life, the complaint said.

After the attack, the man managed to record a brief video on his cellphone of Solano-Arias, and then reported the assault to authorities, the complaint said.

Federal agents confronted Solano-Arias when he came to work the next day, leading to his arrest despite his initial attempt to deny the encounter, authorities said.