A customs officer at the San Ysidro Port of Entry slammed a woman headfirst into the steel door frame of an inspection booth so violently that it broke her nose and split open her lip, the officer admitted in a plea agreement this week.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Andre Maurice Chevalier pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in San Diego to a misdemeanor criminal count of using unreasonable force on the woman as she was seeking to cross the border last year.
Chevalier, a 41-year-old Temecula resident, agreed as part of his plea deal to resign from CBP and not seek future employment with a federal law enforcement agency.
“Mr. Chevalier’s conduct was inexcusable,” U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in a statement. “His guilty plea and resignation mean he no longer has authority over, or the opportunity to abuse, those entering the country.”
Chevalier’s attorney was unable to immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. A CBP spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
According to his plea agreement, Chevalier was working at a secondary inspection area on April 23, 2022, when a woman entering the U.S. in a vehicle lane was referred to his location. Court documents identify the woman only as Y.F. and do not indicate why the primary officer referred her for further inspection.
In the secondary inspection area, Chevalier grabbed the woman by her arm and neck and pulled her out of her vehicle, according to the plea agreement. He “slung her into the … inspection booth behind him, causing her face to hit the steel edge of the open entrance to the booth, splitting her lip and breaking her nose before she fell to the ground,” the plea agreement states.
In a secondary motion after she hit the ground, he “picked up Y.F. and shoved her against the side of her vehicle” and handcuffed her, according to the plea agreement and a statement from prosecutors.
Chevalier acknowledged in his plea agreement that, while acting under color of law, he “removed Y.F. from her vehicle using more force than was objectively reasonable and necessary under the totality of the circumstances.” In so doing, he “acted willfully and intentionally, which deprived Y.F. of her Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure, including the right to be free from the unreasonable use of force,” according to his plea agreement.
Chevalier faces up to a year in prison and a fine up to $100,000 when he’s sentenced. According to the plea agreement, the sentencing guideline range is likely to be four to 10 months, and prosecutors said they would recommend a sentence on the low end of that range.
Sentencing is set for March 8.
