US Customs and Border agent convicted of raping, robbing sex workers in suburban hotel rooms

A federal jury on Thursday convicted U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Luis Uribe on all counts alleging he used his gun and badge to rape and rob Chinese sex workers in Chicago-area hotel rooms in 2022.

After deliberating for about 6¹/₂ hours beginning Wednesday, the jury of six men and six women found Uribe guilty of 11 counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Uribe, 45, of Pingree Grove, dressed in a dark sport coat and checkered shirt, showed no reaction as the verdict was read in U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso’s courtroom. A family member seated in the front row of the gallery began quietly crying as the parties discussed a sentencing date.

As he was being led out of the courtroom by security officers, Uribe turned to his relatives and said, “Take care of my kids,” and then shouted “I love you, babe!” as the door was being closed. His supporters left the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse without comment.

Uribe faces up to life in prison. Sentencing was set for Jan. 21.

A veteran customs agent stationed at O’Hare International Airport, Uribe was arrested in December 2025 on charges alleging he attacked four women over the span of nine months in 2022 in suburban hotels, using his police powers to rob and sexually assault them.

All four victims testified through Chinese interpreters during the weeklong trial, identifying Uribe, whom they believed to be a “fake cop,” as their attacker. Another key piece of evidence shown to the jury was a photo of Uribe taken by one of the women in the sex trafficking ring at a seafood buffet in Hoffman Estates and sent to others in the community as a warning.

One witness, who used the Americanized name “Lisa,” testified she had helped lure Uribe to the lunch meeting. where an offer was made from her boss in China that Uribe could get free sex once a week if he stopped attacking women. She told the jury he never denied participating in the attacks, and that he cashed in on the offer almost immediately after the lunch ended.

“He followed us back to the hotel and he had sex with the other two women,” Lisa testified.

Testifying in his own defense, Uribe tried to flip the script, claiming he was actually offered $7,000 plus free sex as a bribe for helping members of the trafficking ring with immigration problems and getting more girls into the U.S. He also vehemently denied ever raping or robbing anyone, saying that all of the encounters were consensual and that the women threatened to frame him after he refused to help.

In closing arguments, prosecutors said the victims’ assessment of Uribe as a “fake cop” wasn’t entirely off base.

“He kind of was a fake cop,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Shih told the jury. “He wasn’t a cop, he was a rapist with a gun. He was a rapist in a police uniform.”

In his closing remarks to the jury, Uribe’s attorney, Michael Clancy, said that, unlike the alleged victims, Uribe “was genuine in his testimony” and “did not lie about who he is.”

Clancy said it’s well known that prostitutes are adept at “being able to play a man, being able to fake for a man to do her job,” which “goes hand in hand … with not being truthful.”

“My argument is, they’re pretty good at it. Lying,” Clancy said. “They’re pretty good at playing a part. They do it for a living.”

He said none of the records in the case — including Uribe’s DNA being found on hotel bedsheets after one alleged assault, information from Uribe’s phone and tollway records showing his movements — corroborates any rape or robbery.

“It corroborates that he’s an immoral, horrible police officer who went and used a prostitute,” Clancy said. “And that’s not what he’s charged with.”

Ultimately, Clancy told the jury, it came down to who was believable and who had more motivation to lie.

“There’s no cameras in these rooms, there’s no other witnesses in these rooms,” Clancy said. “It’s him and the sex worker. That’s all.”

In his rebuttal, Shih said the defense theory that the victims were actually part of a “vast secret Chinese conspiracy” to frame Uribe is “100% insane.”

Sex traffickers are interested in money and staying off law enforcement’s radar, he said. They’re not going to involve cops in an extortion plot, Shih said.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com