CBP Officer Miguel Lerma Raped Two Women. DNA Finally Connected Him to Both Cases.

 

CBP Officer Miguel Lerma Raped Two Women. DNA Connected Him to Both Cases.

Miguel Lerma Jr. was a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in Southern California.

Two women. Two separate attacks.

In 2009, Lerma met a woman at a Long Beach club. She later blacked out from alcohol intoxication and woke up alone with him in nearby bushes.

Then, in 2010, Lerma picked up another woman in Santa Ana and drove her to an industrial area. When she became frightened and tried to get out of the vehicle, Lerma used force and violence to sexually assault her.

For a while, both cases remained unsolved.

Then investigators got the DNA match.

Garden Grove police connected Lerma to both cases through DNA collected from the victims.

He was arrested in 2011 as he was leaving for work.

In 2013, Lerma pleaded guilty to felony charges of forcible rape and rape of an intoxicated person.

His sentence was six years in state prison.

Six years.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life and permanently barred from entering certain community recreational facilities and city parks.

Authorities said Lerma was off duty during both attacks and did not use his law-enforcement authority to commit them. That distinction belongs in the record.

So does this:

Two women were raped. Two cold cases sat waiting. DNA finally put his name on both of them.