A former U.S. Border Patrol agent who is believed to have strangled and sexually assaulted several women over a seven-year period has been convicted by a Pima County jury of raping two of the victims.
Steven Charles Holmes was found guilty on Dec. 9 of seven felonies committed in 2016 and 2021. He faces a minimum of 20 years in prison when sentenced on March 13, 2023 in Pima County Superior Court.
Holmes was first arrested by Tucson Police Department in May 2019 after a woman he met via an online dating app told detectives she was sexually assaulted while on a date with Holmes. An investigation revealed several other women who claimed Holmes assaulted them in 2012 2015, and 2018.
Court records show Holmes was released from jail shortly after his arrest by posting a $25,000 cash bond to await trial on six felony counts of sexual assault. Most of the counts included some form of force, restraint, or strangulation.
But Holmes was arrested again in August 2021 after a woman he was romantically involved with called police to report she had been strangled by Holmes while having what she said started out as consensual sex.
The woman, who had medical symptoms associated with strangulation, told detectives that Holmes refused to stop the sexual activity even after she pleaded with him and fought back.
Holmes’ bond was revoked in the 2019 case and he was ordered to remain in custody pending the outcome of the trial. He was then indicted for three more felonies stemming from the 2021 arrest.
However, getting Holmes’ case to trial was not an easy matter due in part to restrictions his attorneys faced with COVID-19 restrictions at the Pima County jail. His attorneys also spent several months arguing with the Pima County Attorney’s Office about what testimony jurors would hear about Holmes’ sexual activities.
Judge James Marner eventually ruled that jurors could hear evidence that Holmes had a “sexual propensity or characteristic trait to commit acts of strangulation during sex” and that he had engaged in such a behavior against at least five women
“without consent” or “beyond the agreed upon stopping point” with a partner who had initially given consent for such activity during sex.
This summer Marner order Holmes to stand trial starting Nov. 29. The day before trial, Deputy County Attorney Victoria Otto was forced to dismiss one of the 2019 counts due to the unavailability of the victim who had alleged Holmes sexually assaulted her in 2012.
The eight-day trial ended Dec. 9 with the jury of six men and six woman returning guilty verdicts on four counts of sexual assault involving one of the 2019 victims. The jury also found Holmes guilty of sexual assault, aggravated assault, and kidnapping involving the 2021 victim.
Holmes was found not guilty of a sole count of sexual abuse of another woman named in the initial indictment for an incident from late 2018 or early 2019.
At the time of his 2019 arrest, Holmes was assigned to the USBP’s Tucson Station and had been an agent for seven years. He was placed on administrative duties pending resolution of the charges, and was still employed by USBP at the time of his arrest in 2021.
Public records show Holmes was terminated sometime after the second arrest.