SIERRS VISTA – A Sierra Vista man, Dana Thornhill, was arrested this week for sexual conduct with a minor and sexual assault. Thornhill, an agent with the U.S. Border Patrol, was taken into custody after a standoff with Sierra Vista Police officers.
On Thursday, Thornhill tried to avoid arrest by barricading himself inside a church north of Huachuca City. According to the Sierra Vista Police Department (SVPD), investigators were surveilling Thornhill early Thursday afternoon when he fled the Sierra Vista city limits to the church. He was armed with a semiautomatic pistol.
SVPD officers told Thornhill to surrender and to exit the building. SVPD Crisis Negotiation Team members began negotiations with Thornhill got him to surrender his firearm and took him into custody just before 8 p.m.
Thornhill was booked into the Cochise County Jail Thursday evening on two counts each of sexual conduct with a minor and sexual assault. He is being held without bond.