Former officer and Arcola police chief among defendants in federal civil rights lawsuit

ARCOLA, Texas (KTRK) -- A woman, who says a former police officer used his position to sexually abuse her, came out publicly Tuesday as part of her federal civil rights lawsuit against her alleged abuser.

Raven Lillie is filing the suit against former officer Hector Aaron Ruiz, the city of Arcola, and the city's police chief.

According to investigators, Lillie is one of two women believed to have been sexually assaulted by Ruiz back in 2019.

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Since those allegations emerged, Ruiz had been federally indicted on two counts of depriving two separate victims of their right to bodily integrity.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the 25-year-old is accused of using his capacity as a law enforcement officer to commit aggravated sexual abuse and kidnapping of the two women.

Police say Lillie reported the alleged assault to Manvel police 12 hours after it happened. They said Ruiz pulled Lillie over for running a stop sign on Highway 6, right before the 288 intersections in Manvel. Ruiz told her to follow him in her car to an isolated residential area and coerced her to engage in a sexual act.

"Officer Ruiz made me feel humiliated and degraded as a human," Lillie said. "I can't sleep at night. I don't like driving for fear of being pulled over."

Randall Kallinen is representing Lillie in her civil suit. He said the small department needs more oversight and clearly defined policies.

"You can't give people a gun. You can't tell people you can stop anyone you want on the road and then not supervise them, give them the policies to follow," Kallinen said. "What you've got is lawlessness."

Kallinen spoke specifically about the lack of guidelines for body camera use. He said officers are not given clear instructions on when their body cameras need to be turned on.

ABC13 reached out to the city of Arcola and the Arcola Police Department but were not able to speak with anyone.

After Lillie came forward with her story, another woman said Ruiz sexually assaulted her while he was on duty. Prosecutors said he was assisting a Fort Bend County Sheriff's deputy on a DWI stop. Ruiz is said to have given the woman and her child a ride home after the driver of their car was arrested, and assaulted her at her home.

Ruiz also faces two counts of carrying and using a firearm in a crime of violence as well as falsifying dashboard camera and body microphone recordings with the intent to obstruct the federal investigation.

Ruiz faces up to life in prison if he's convicted of the civil rights counts. The falsifying counts carry a maximum of a 20-year prison sentence.

Get the latest developments in this ongoing case by following Mycah Hatfield on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.