Officials say police officer raped woman during traffic stop

A former Texas police officer has been sentenced to prison after authorities say he raped a woman during a traffic stop.

Hector Aaron Ruiz, 29, was found guilty of obstruction of justice and civil rights violations, according to a June 24 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

McClatchy News reached out to Ruiz’s attorney for comment on June 25 but did not immediately receive a response.

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In the middle of the night on Nov. 16, 2019, Ruiz was working as an officer for the Arcola Police Department and stopped a 23-year-old woman, prosecutors said. At one point during the traffic stop, he told the woman to “convince him” not to take her to jail, officials said.

Ruiz took the woman’s driver’s license and ordered her to follow him. The woman tried to drive away, but Ruiz stopped her again, prosecutors said. Officials said Ruiz then took her to a construction site, gave her alcohol to drink and sexually assaulted her.

“Ruiz was not just a predator, he was a badge-wearing predator,” U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani said in the press release.

Later that day, the woman contacted authorities and told them that Ruiz had raped her, prosecutors said.

When police checked the woman’s cellphone, they found text messages she had sent to a friend during the traffic stop in which she wrote that she believed she was going to die. Officials said forensic evidence also linked Ruiz to the sexual assault.

Officials said Ruiz turned off his body microphone and his car camera during the traffic stop to cover up the sexual assault.

“Hector Ruiz falsely believed he was protected by his uniform and badge and acted like a calculating sex offender, targeting and sexually assaulting his victim during a traffic stop,” said Douglas Williams, special agent in charge of the FBI in Houston, in the press release.

McClatchy News reached out to Arcola police, but officials declined to comment.

Ruiz was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by five years probation.

Arcola is located about 25 miles south of downtown Houston.