A photograph supplied by the FBI in October 2023 reveals former CIA officer Brian Jeffrey Raymond, who pleaded responsible that yr to drugging, filming and sexually assaulting dozens of girls throughout a number of nations over a 14-year interval.
AP/FBI
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AP/FBI
Warning: This story accommodates detailed descriptions of sexual assault.
A former CIA officer has been sentenced to 30 years in jail for drugging, sexually assaulting and filming greater than two dozen girls in a number of nations over greater than a decade.
Brian Jeffrey Raymond, 48, was additionally ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised launch, pay $260,000 in restitution to the victims and register as a intercourse offender after leaving jail, the Justice Division stated in a press release on Wednesday.
“Immediately’s sentence ensures that the defendant shall be correctly marked as a intercourse offender for all times, and he’ll spend a considerable portion of the remainder of his life behind bars,” stated U.S. Legal professional Matthew Graves.
Raymond, of La Mesa, Calif., pleaded responsible final yr to at least one depend every of sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact, coercion and enticement, and transportation of obscene materials, punishable by 24 to 30 years.
As a part of that plea settlement, Raymond admitted to drugging and fascinating in nonconsensual sexual acts with 4 girls, and nonconsensual sexual contact with six others. He additionally acknowledged drugging two different girls, and taking both pictures or movies of 28 victims whereas they had been totally or partially nude with out their data or permission.
“Most of the recordings present Raymond touching and manipulating the sufferer’s our bodies whereas they had been unconscious and incapable of consent,” prosecutors wrote on the time, including that he tried to delete the footage as soon as he discovered of the legal investigation.
Prosecutors stated in courtroom filings that Raymond had engaged in a 14-year-long “legal scheme to take advantage of girls.”
“The defendant’s aim was easy: to sexually and bodily assault girls after they had been at their most weak and to create a long-lasting assortment of images and movies memorializing his abhorrent deeds,” they wrote.
The assaults occurred at his “government-leased housing” in Mexico Metropolis and different places — which authorities didn’t specify — between 2006 and 2020, when he was arrested.
Raymond was employed by the U.S. authorities on the U.S. Embassy in Mexico Metropolis from August 2018 till Could 2020, in keeping with the FBI, which says he lived in quite a few different nations together with Peru and the U.S., the place he resided within the Washington, D.C., and San Diego areas.
He speaks Spanish and Mandarin Chinese language, the bureau stated, and met lots of his victims on courting apps. Prosecutors stated among the victims had identified Raymond for years.
The case towards Raymond started in Could 2020, when a unadorned lady was seen screaming for assist from the balcony of his Mexico Metropolis residence.
“Raymond admitted to having sexual activity together with her, however the lady reported that she had no reminiscence of occasions after consuming drinks and meals supplied by Raymond,” the FBI wrote in a 2021 public discover.
Brokers searched Raymond’s digital units, the place they found tons of of pictures and movies depicting at the least 24 “unconscious and nude or partially nude girls.”
Court docket filings reviewed by NPR stated they discovered 487 movies and pictures of unconscious girls in “varied states of undress” on a number of units belonging to Raymond, in addition to searches for phrases together with “handed out,” “ambien,” “ambien and alcohol and go out,” “Zolpidem and pharmacies” and “deep sleep” between 2010 and 2011.
The FBI stated nearly the entire girls concerned “skilled reminiscence loss throughout their time with Raymond and had no data of the pictures, movies or any bodily contact.”
“For 14 years, Raymond exploited his trusted place as a U.S. authorities consultant to lure girls into his confidence,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Cost David Sundberg. “The FBI thanks the courageous girls who shared info that furthered this investigation.”
Lots of these girls had been watching within the Washington, D.C. courtroom as his sentence was handed down on Wednesday.
Girls describe the shock and ache of studying what had occurred to them
Raymond’s victims stuffed 4 rows within the courtroom, and 12 of them took the stand to ask that he be given the utmost sentence, the Washington Publish stories.
Whereas their histories with Raymond diverse — some met him on courting apps; others had identified him for practically 20 years — they used related phrases to explain him: an excellent man, an ideal gentleman. Or so that they thought.
Prosecutors wrote in courtroom filings that Raymond’s actions sometimes adopted a sample: He would drug girls at his house alongside wine and snacks, then “spent hours shifting, posing and assaulting them.” The pictures sometimes centered on the ladies’s breasts and genitals, and Raymond “posed their our bodies and manipulated their eyelids, mouths and limbs.”
“The defendant lured victims to his house the place, unbeknownst to them, one other lady had simply been drugged hours or days earlier than,” prosecutors wrote. “Some stood in his hallway the place one other lady had lately vomited. Some stumbled onto his mattress the place one other lady had laid unconscious simply the night time earlier than.”
The prosecutors wrote that whereas victims felt bodily sick and a “deep sense of disgrace” for being unable to recollect what occurred within the days that adopted, Raymond “performed dumb” when requested concerning the night time and would flip the dialog to his busy work schedule or well being points in his household.
He additionally bragged to an in depth buddy about his sexual conquests and added the victims’ names to an inventory, prosecutors stated, “noting their age, ethnicity, and, at occasions, whether or not their breasts had been actual.”
The ladies who spoke in courtroom Wednesday, who weren’t named, described the shock they felt when the FBI confirmed them pictures of themselves being assaulted whereas unconscious — in some instances years after the very fact — and of the lasting influence of that trauma on their well-being and relationships with others.
“My physique seems to be like a corpse on his mattress,” one sufferer stated, in keeping with the AP. “Now I’ve these nightmares of seeing myself lifeless.”
Raymond, who has been held with out bail in a D.C. jail since 2020, listened dejectedly in his orange jail jumpsuit.
At one level, he learn from a press release, taking accountability for his “downward spiral” and apologizing for what he known as his “unconscionable actions.”
“I do know no matter I say is not going to erase what I’ve carried out, however I wholeheartedly apologize and I’m deeply sorry,” Raymond stated. “This isn’t who I’m, however it’s what I turned, and I’m devastated.”
Raymond’s attorneys had requested the choose to provide him the extra lenient sentence of 24 years, citing his “quasi-military” work on the CIA within the aftermath of 9/11, the AP stories.
“Whereas he was working tirelessly at his authorities job, he ignored his personal want for assist, and over time he started to isolate himself, detach himself from human emotions and grow to be emotionally numb,” protection legal professional Howard Katzoff wrote in a courtroom submitting. “He was a useful authorities employee, nevertheless it took its toll on him and despatched him down a darkish path.”
However U.S. District Decide Colleen Kollar-Kotelly instituted the utmost sentence, saying Raymond’s acts had “betrayed his authorities and his nation.”
“It’s secure to say he’s a sexual predator,” she stated, per the AP. “You’ll have a time frame to consider this.”
The CIA faces scrutiny for its dealing with of sexual misconduct complaints
The CIA has condemned the “reprehensible, appalling habits” of its former officer.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
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Carolyn Kaster/AP
Raymond’s sentencing comes amid a broader reckoning with sexual misconduct on the CIA, from which he resigned after his arrest.
An AP investigation printed in 2023 discovered that at the least two dozen girls had come ahead within the previous months to inform authorities and Congress about sexual assaults, undesirable touching and what they perceived as a marketing campaign by the company to maintain them from talking out about it.
Round that point, the CIA inspector common additionally opened an impartial investigation into its alleged mishandling of sexual misconduct. The AP reported in August of this yr {that a} 648-page inside watchdog report confirmed “systemic shortcomings” in that regard.
CIA Director William Burns publicly acknowledged in July that “now we have extra to do,” and stated the company is taking steps to strengthen its response to stories of sexual assault and sexual harassment, together with streamlining the reporting pathways and hiring a everlasting investigator to facilitate interactions with legislation enforcement.
In a press release shared with NPR on Thursday, a CIA spokesperson condemned Raymond’s crimes “within the strongest phrases,” saying there isn’t a excuse for his “reprehensible, appalling habits.” They added that the case underscores the company’s dedication to participating with legislation enforcement.
“We take any allegations of sexual assault or sexual harassment extraordinarily significantly, and have taken important steps to make sure we keep a secure, inclusive, and respectful setting for our workforce,” they wrote. “We should get this proper; our workforce calls for no much less.”
