A Border Patrol agent from Mercedes is in trouble again. He now faces a new child sex charge. This time a different victim came forward. Hidalgo County jail records show it. Derek James Dominguez was booked on July 2.

This is not his first arrest. He already had an earlier child abuse case. The Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office filed that one. Now a second victim says he hurt her too. This happened years ago. The new charge raises hard questions. How long did Dominguez hurt kids?

The victim talked to a Mercedes police investigator. She said Dominguez assaulted her two times. Both attacks happened in 2016. One was in March. One was in April. This comes from a criminal complaint. Channel 5 News got a copy of it.

The victim said she knew Dominguez a long time. She said she was "seven or eight years" old when they met.

Investigators asked her why she waited so long to tell. She said she heard about his other case first. That is when she knew she was not the only one.

"That's when the guilt started to creep in because I always kind of assumed I'm the only one and he would never do this with anybody else," the victim said.

She told police in October 2025. But Dominguez was not booked right away. He was not booked until July 2, 2026. That is more than eight months later.

The earlier case came from the Sheriff's Office. Deputies arrested him after a different child was hurt. That abuse happened between 2023 and December 2024. A sheriff's office news release said so.

The news release named Dominguez as a Border Patrol agent. U.S. Customs and Border Protection runs Border Patrol. CBP confirmed he works for them.

Dominguez was not a stranger to the victim. She said she knew him for years. Cases like this raise hard questions. How much do families trust a badge? How long can warning signs stay hidden?

Channel 5 News asked CBP about the new charge. A spokesperson would not talk about it. CBP said it does not discuss personnel matters. CBP has not said if Dominguez still works there. It has not said if he is on leave.

Jail records show he got out fast. Dominguez was released on July 3. That was just one day after he got booked. He posted a $10,000 bond. A bond is money paid to the court. It lets a person leave jail. The case is not over. It just means Dominguez can go home. He waits at home while the courts do their work.

Now Dominguez faces two cases at once. Both are in Hidalgo County. One case covers a child hurt between 2023 and 2024. The other covers the 2016 assaults. Both cases must go through court. That means hearings. That means evidence. That could mean a trial. Or it could mean a plea deal.

It is still not clear how many people Dominguez may have hurt. Two cases came months apart. They point to a pattern. That pattern goes back ten years. The victim said the earlier arrest gave her courage. It helped her come forward. El Tejano will keep following both cases. We will follow them through the Hidalgo County courts.