A former Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agent has received a life sentence for sexually assaulting two women and preventing them from reporting the attacks, the U.S. Department of Justice reports.

John Jacob Olivas, 48, of Riverside, Calif. was sentenced May 8 to life in federal prison and ordered to pay $17,125 in restitution, the DOJ reported in a news release. Olivas was found guilty in December 2022 of three counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and remanded into federal custody, the release states.

U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal, who handed down the sentence, said Olivas had committed “systematic torture of women” and his “senseless” crimes would force his victims to “live with this trauma for the rest of their lives,” according to the release. 

Olivas joined Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2007, worked as an HSI special agent for approximately six years and resigned in September 2015, according to the release. Olivas attacked the two women in 2012, the release reports.  

"Both victims endured Olivas’s 'violent, escalating, controlling, and intimidating behavior, which included his repeated brandishing of HSI credentials to [them] and asserting that he was above the law,' prosecutors wrote in court documents. 'In all three sexual assaults, Olivas violated the victims’ constitutional rights to liberty and bodily integrity'," the DOJ states in the news release.

Olivas's first victim testified at trial that she was assaulted in January 2021 by Olivas, who told her law enforcement would not respond if she reported the attack because as an HSI agent, he was "above a cop," "untouchable," and "invisible to police." Olivas also told the victim she could be made to "disappear," be arrested on false charges and have her children taken away, the release states.

A second victim testified she had been raped by Olivas in September and November 2012, the release reports. Olivas pointed his service weapon into her back during the September assault, the victim testified. After each assault, Olivas made threats to the woman that were similar to the threats made to the first victim, including a lack of police response to any report she might make because Olivas was "'invincible' to the criminal justice system," the victim said in her testimony. 

"Both victims endured Olivas’s 'violent, escalating, controlling, and intimidating behavior, which included his repeated brandishing of HSI credentials to [them] and asserting that he was above the law,' prosecutors wrote in court documents. 'In all three sexual assaults, Olivas violated the victims’ constitutional rights to liberty and bodily integrity'," the release reports.

Assistant United States Attorneys Frances Lewis of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section and Eli Alcaraz of the Riverside Branch Office prosecuted the case.

“John Jacob Olivas not only used the power of his position to commit horrific acts of violence and silence his victims, his actions while employed as a government agent served to undermine the efforts of honorable law enforcement officials,” Donald Alway, assistant director in the FBI's Los Angeles field office, said in the news release. 

“This significant sentence should not only deliver a measure of justice to his victims," Alway said, "but restore trust in government as we hold accountable individuals who use their position to violate civil rights.”