Immigration Worker At Detention Facility Charged With Molesting Teen

A man that worked at the Southwest Key detention center in Arizona has been fired and arrested for molesting a 14-year-old girl. Fernando Magaz Negrete, 32, has now been fired from facility, and on July 31 was arraigned and booked with a $150,000 bond. On Tuesday, according to the Associated Press, during his court appearance, Magaz Negrete asked the court commissioner “Who is bringing up these charges?” The court commissioner said that his attorney would discuss his case with him.

JUST IN: @phoenixpolice say a Southwest Key employee was arrested, accused of sexually abusing a 14 y/o. Fernando Magaz Negrete, 32, was arrested after a witness said he inappropriately touched the teen on July 25. He faces charges of molestation, aggr. assault & sexual abuse. pic.twitter.com/GLchWuUzEp

— Matt Rodewald (@Matt_Rodewald) August 1, 2018

He was charged with molestation, aggravated assault and sexual abuse, and his own actions were caught on a surveillance tape. The AP reports that on June 27, Magaz Negrete was seen walking toward the bedroom of the victim “several times throughout the night.” The teen’s roommate witnessed the crime and reported that Magaz Negrete “kissed and fondled” her.

“When a child tells us of inappropriate behavior, we immediately call law enforcement and start an internal investigation as appropriate,” Southwest Key spokesman Jeff Eller said, according to the AP. “That’s what happened in this case. Southwest Key always works with law enforcement to bring the full force of the law to bear when it is warranted.”

Southwest Key declined to confirm whether the victim was actually part of the children that had been separated from their parents from the Trump Administration’s “zero-tolerance policy.” However, we do know that Southwest Key is one of those facilities that had been overwhelmed with housing the children and had to set up make-shift facilities including transforming a former Walmart. They have several detention centers throughout the country.

Another appalling aspect to this horrible crime, is the fact that Magaz Negrete was seen in the video approaching the girl’s room on June 27, and on the following day First Lady Melania Trump visited that same Southwest Key center to see “what’s real” with the separated children at these facilities.