R.W., who remains with the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, had known Mr. Zamora for years.
He had asked her to meet on various occasions in Tucson, and had once invited her to his hotel room, she told the police. She had turned him down, she said, telling him she just wanted to be friends, but he persisted in communicating and flirting with her.
Mr. Zamora lived in El Centro, Calif., where his wife had been the sector chief, but worked in Yuma. That day in May, he had traveled from Yuma to Tucson on a Border Patrol work trip with two other agents. Mr. Zamora would often “make up reasons, such as a need to speak with someone, to justify the work trips” to Tucson to see her, R.W. told the police.
At the Trident Grill II restaurant that night, Mr. Zamora placed his hand on her left thigh, and she sat up stiffly and moved away, she said in police reports.
Mr. Villareal, the chief patrol agent in the Tucson sector, is listed as a witness by the police. He and Mr. Zamora have been friends for about 20 years, according to court documents. Mr. Villareal told the police that Mr. Zamora invited him to the restaurant. He said that he stayed a short time, drank one beer but did not finish it and that he did not think Mr. Zamora and R.W. were intoxicated when he left.
Customs and Border Protection did not respond to questions addressed to Mr. Villareal and to Ms. Chavez, Mr. Zamora’s wife.
R.W. told the police she had three glasses of wine, a mixed drink and about five shots of tequila, and their waitress told investigators that Mr. Zamora appeared to be urging R.W. to drink more.
R.W. and Mr. Zamora took an Uber to his hotel. During his interview with detectives, Mr. Zamora said he had offered to give her a ride home but she said she did not want to be alone and asked to go back to his hotel.