A Webb County jury convicted U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer Eliomar Santos on all four counts stemming from a 2022 domestic violence case, with prosecutors telling jurors he assaulted a woman at her home, handcuffed her and held her inside a closet for hours. The verdict came after a trial in Laredo that stretched across five days before 406th District Court Judge David E. Garcia.
Jurors convicted Santos on all four counts, according to KGNS. The station reported that one conviction is a third-degree felony, while the remaining counts were described as assault causing bodily injury, unlawful restraint, and interference with an emergency request for assistance. A 2024 report from the Laredo Morning Times on the original grand jury indictment had listed the felony as assault of a family or household member by impeding breath or circulation, with the three misdemeanors identified as assault family violence, unlawful restraint and interference with an emergency request for assistance — language that differs somewhat from the station's description of the final convictions.
Prosecutors told jurors that Santos assaulted the woman at her home on July 31, 2022, handcuffed her, and held her in a closet, keeping her from calling for help, the station's report states. The defense argued that Santos acted in self-defense and asked jurors to acquit him, a position the jury ultimately rejected after convicting on every count.
What the Woman Told Investigators
According to the Laredo Morning Times's account of the original indictment, the woman told police Santos kept her inside the closet for about three hours and that he pushed, slapped and pinched her. Santos, for his part, told police he grabbed her from behind and tried restraining her so she would not go out and get others involved, the same report notes.
A trial witness, described as an officer who responded to the scene, testified that the woman was crying and visibly bruised when he arrived to the neighbor's house, per the same account from KGNS's coverage of the sentencing. Officers at the time reportedly detained Santos and found handcuffs on a bed inside the home.
Sentencing and What Comes Next
The Webb County district attorney's office said Santos will serve one year in the Webb County Jail, followed by three years of probation. KGNS reported that the three years of probation applies to the assault conviction involving impeding breath, while one-year jail sentences were handed down for the remaining counts. The jail sentences will run concurrently, meaning they will be served at the same time, the station reported.
The case drew additional attention because Santos was a CBP employee at the time of his 2022 arrest, according to the Laredo Morning Times. The woman involved in the case also worked for CBP, though the station's reporting on the sentencing did not address whether either remains employed by the agency today.
