SAN DIEGO — A 26-year-old man was charged Thursday on suspicion of sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl in June 2022 while guiding her from Tijuana, Mexico into the United States, prosecutors said.

Cecilio Jimenez-Bautista, along with his 20-year-old brother Alexander Jimenez-Bautista, who also was allegedly traveling with the underage girl, face several charges, Kelly Thornton with the Office of the United States Attorney Southern District of California stated in a news release.

The two brothers are accused of guiding the girl and other Mexican citizens from Mexico to the U.S. through the Otay Mountain Wilderness area for three days with the intent to violate the immigration laws of the U.S., according to allegations in a grand jury indictment.

The group was brought along remote, rugged and desolate paths before U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended them at an area near Otay Lakes Road, per officials.

The indictment said Cecilio Jimenez-Bautista “repeatedly isolated the girl from the group and placed her in fear, and sexually abused her.”

“He ultimately used her fear of him to cause her to engage in sex with him, causing her serious bodily injury,” Thornton said.