Canadian Woman Sues U.S. Border Agents Over Aggressive Strip Search
A Canadian woman has alleged that she was strip-searched and molested by a female U.S. border guard at the bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit. Loretta Van Beek, 46, of Stratford, Ontario, was traveling to her vacation home in Savannah, Ga., when she was pulled over for further inspection of her car for failing to mention that she was transporting raspberries.
The U.S. border agents allegedly searched and detained for hours and forced to strip to her underwear, a federal lawsuit she filed claims. An unidentified Customs and Border Protection agent, called "Roe" in the lawsuit, forced Van Beek "to lean against one of the cell's walls and to spread her arms and legs. "Roe" then aggressively grabbed and twisted [her] nipples and breasts," the suit alleges.
Then the agent told Van Beek it was time to "get intimate," the suit charges. "Roe then forced her hand into [Van Beek's] genital area in such a manner that [her] undergarments were pushed inside her genitalia."
A second agent is being sued for being in the cell at the time. A border spokesman would not comment on the pending litigation.
