2 San Bernardino County medical center staffers charged with assaulting a federal officer

Two staff members at a San Bernardino County medical center have been charged with assaulting a federal officer and interfering with immigration enforcement duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced on Friday.   

The charges stem from a July 8 incident, when two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained a man inside the Ontario Advanced Surgery Center, and staff members at the center allegedly interfered.

Jose de Jesus Ortega, 38, of Highland, was arrested Friday morning, and at his Riverside courthouse appearance later in the day, he was released on $10,000 bond. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Danielle Nadine Davila, 33, of Corona, turned herself in on Friday.

Ortega and Davila are charged with assaulting a federal officer and conspiracy to prevent by force and intimidation a federal officer from discharging their duties.

United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a news release that the man detained inside the surgery center was not a patient.  "He ran inside for cover, and these defendants attempted to block his apprehension by assaulting our agents," he said.

According to prosecutors, two ICE agents were conducting "roving immigration-related operations" in Ontario on July 8, wearing government-issued equipment, driving an unmarked government vehicle, as they were following a truck with three men inside.

The truck allegedly made a "quick" turn into the surgery center's parking lot and, as officers approached the men, two of them ran off. The third man was "partially detained near the surgery center's front entrance before he resisted and pulled away, causing both him and the ICE officer to fall to the ground," the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote in a news release.

Prosecutors said a staff member at the center "helped pull him away from the officer," and the man went inside the center, where he "was pursued by the ICE officer, who eventually stopped him."

Ortega and Davila allegedly continued to interfere with the man's arrest, Davila by wedging herself between the officer and the man, pushing the officer, and saying, "Let him go" and "Get out."

Ortega allegedly grabbed the officer's arm and his vest.  

Legal advocates held a news conference on Friday afternoon to denounce Ortega's arrest. Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice Deputy Director Lizbeth Abeln said Ortega stood up for justice during the July 8 incident.

"What we are seeing and witnessing are federal agents weaponizing their authority to target community members who speak out. It is shameful, it is unlawful, and it will not go unchallenged," she said.

Ortega is scheduled to appear in court on August 19 for his arraignment.

If convicted, the two would face a maximum sentence of eight years in federal prison on the assault count and up to six years in federal prison on the conspiracy count.