A 29-year-old former Arcola Police Department officer was sentenced to a total of 20 years in federal prison for obstruction of justice and violation of civil rights, U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani announced Monday.
Hector Aaron Ruiz pleaded guilty Jan. 19.
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His prison sentence will be immediately followed by five years of supervised release.
“Ruiz was not only a predator but a predator with a badge,” Hamdani said. “During a traffic stop, he raped a young woman he was sworn to serve and to protect, violently breaking a fundamental promise law enforcement makes with any community. The U.S. Attorney’s office is relentless in its pursuit to bring to justice officers who betray their uniform and oaths, committing heinous acts against members of our community. Today’s sentence is the fruit of that pursuit.”
On Nov. 16, 2019, Ruiz was on duty and pulled over a 23-year-old woman to conduct a traffic stop in the middle of the night. He told her to “convince” him to not take her to jail, then took her driver’s license and ordered her to follow him. When she tried to drive off, Ruiz pulled her over again and repeated his command. He eventually drove her to a neighborhood, which was under construction at the time, forced her to drink alcohol and coerced her to have sex with him.
The woman came forward the same day and identified Ruiz as her rapist, prosecutors said.
The investigation revealed Ruiz had disabled his body microphone and the active recording system in his police cruiser. Authorities also found a text message the victim sent to a friend while Ruiz was making her follow him. In it, she said she thought she was going to die.
Forensic analysis further confirmed Ruiz was her rapist, according to prosecutors.
He will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.