Police Arrest Suspect in Sexual Assaults by Phony INS Official : Crime: A San Gabriel man is taken into custody after a tip to El Monte authorities. The former waiter is accused of attacking at least 24 women while passing himself off as an immigration agent to primarily Spanish-speaking victims.

A 22-year-old San Gabriel man suspected of posing as an immigration officer and then sexually assaulting at least 24 women was being held Friday at El Monte City Jail in lieu of $5 million bail, police said.

Christopher Aguayo was arrested Thursday evening after police received a tip from an informant, and six victims identified him as the man who assaulted them, El Monte Police Detective John Fentress said.

Police would not reveal the identity of the informant but said the woman might be eligible for a $10,000 reward offered by the city of El Monte and the county Board of Supervisors.

Between November, 1993, and Aug. 10 of this year, 21 women in El Monte and three in the Temple City area reported being sexually assaulted by a man who claimed to be an immigration officer.

Once he gained entrance to his victims’ apartments, the suspect told the women that he needed to search them for weapons and then sexually assaulted them, police said. He often told his victims that if they did not cooperate, their families would be deported, police said. Police added that he targeted Spanish-speaking women.

Aguayo, who is from Utah, worked as a waiter at the Olive Garden in Arcadia until two weeks ago, when restaurant officials said he was fired after they received customer complaints about his service. Police are unsure whether Aguayo is employed now. He will be arraigned at Rio Hondo Municipal Court on Tuesday morning.