A former CIA officer entered a guilty plea on Tuesday in Washington to federal sex abuse charges, which could result in a 30-year prison sentence, for allegedly drugging and sexually abusing at least two dozen women during, including photographing and video recording nude and partially nude women without their consent while they were unconscious or incapable of consenting.
Prosecutors claim that Brian Jeffrey Raymond, 47, retained nearly 500 images and videos of naked, unconscious women, many of which show him straddling, groping, or opening their eyelids.
The photos, which show victims in Mexico, Peru, and other nations, cover a large portion of Raymond’s career and date back to 2006, according to the AP.
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The CIA has been facing criticism in recent months for its outdated and frequently secretive handling of allegations of sexual misconduct within the spy organization. This case represents only the latest in this embarrassing trend.
Raymond’s crimes have been publicly denounced by the CIA, and in May, CIA Director William Burns announced a number of reforms aimed at streamlining claims, assisting victims, and swiftly disciplining those who engage in misconduct.
“As this case shows, we are committed to engaging with law enforcement to ensure that justice is served,” the CIA said in a statement. “In addition, we take any allegations of sexual assault or sexual harassment extremely seriously and have taken significant steps to ensure we maintain a safe, inclusive and respectful environment for our workforce.”
When investigators went through Raymond’s devices, they discovered that he had been searching for terms like “vodka & valium” and “Ambien and alcohol and pass out” online.
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Raymond once sent an email asking, “Hello, do you have chloral hydrate for insomnia?” to an online pharmacy.
Raymond had been stationed in Mexico City when he was arrested three years prior.
He would meet women on dating apps and extend an invitation for drinks to his apartment, which the embassy leased, the AP reported.
Fluent in Mandarin and Spanish, the San Diego native was only discovered in 2020 after a concerned neighbor called the police in response to a naked woman Raymond met on Tinder screaming for aid from his balcony.
After searching through all of Raymond’s electronic belongings, American authorities started identifying the victims, all of whom had mentioned having memory loss of some kind while they were with him. During the trial, prosecutors planned to call up to 14 alleged victims.
After agents forced him to give up his passcode, Raymond successfully contested the admissibility of some images that the judge determined were unlawfully taken from his cell phones, and he withdrew his prior guilty plea in the case from last year.
However, other photos that were kept on Raymond’s iCloud account were accepted.
Raymond admitted guilt to four of the twenty-five criminal counts, which included coercion, transportation of pornographic material, and sexual abuse.
According to the agreement made public on Tuesday, he will be sentenced in September to a maximum of 24 or 30 years in prison.
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