ALBUQUERQUE - U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez and Special Agent in Charge Monte A. Cason of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Dallas Field Office, announced that a former employee of a halfway house in Albuquerque, N.M., was sentenced this morning to 100 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for sexually abusing six female inmates who were under his custodial authority.
Eric Trujillo, 36, of Albuquerque, N.M., was arrested in Nov. 2015, on a seven-count indictment charging him with aggravated sexual abuse and sexual abuse of persons in official detention. The indictment charged Trujillo with sexually abusing four women who were living at a halfway house in Bernalillo County, N.M., that provided lodging and other services for federal inmates under a contract with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. According to the indictment, Trujillo committed the crimes between June 2012 and March 2014, while he was employed as a resident monitor by the halfway house.
The indictment was superseded on March 23, 2016, to add two more sexual abuse charges. The new charges alleged that between May 2012 and Sept. 7, 2012, Trujillo sexually assaulted two more women who were residing at the halfway house.
Trujillo pled guilty in federal court on May 23, 2016, to a six-count felony information charging him with sexually abusing persons in official detention. In entering the guilty plea, Trujillo admitted that between May 2012 and March 2014, he engaged in sexual acts with six female inmates who were living at the halfway house pursuant to a contract with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Trujillo acknowledged that at the time, he was employed as a resident monitor and guard by the halfway house and that the victims were in official detention and under his custodial, supervisory and disciplinary authority.
This case was investigated by the Dallas Field Office of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General with assistance from the Albuquerque Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Novaline D. Wilson and Sarah J. Mease.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
