A CIA officer who drugged, photographed and sexually assaulted nearly 30 women in postings around the world has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Brian Jeffrey Raymond – a former White House intern – would lure women he met on dating apps including Tinder to his government-leased flat and drug them while serving wine and snacks.
The 48-year-old would then spend hours posing with his naked and unconscious victims before photographing and assaulting them. He was found to have a library of more than 500 images.
Prosecutors said the horrific assaults date back to 2006 and tracked Raymond’s career from postings in Mexico, Peru and other countries.
“It’s safe to say he’s a sexual predator,” US Senior Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said, imposing the full sentence prosecutors had requested in Washington on Wednesday.
“You are going to have a period of time to think about this.”
Image: The case is thought to be one of the most egregious misconduct cases in the CIA’s history Pic: AP
As part of the sentence, the judge also ordered him to pay $10,000 (£7,500) to each of his 28 victims.
Seemed like a ‘perfect gentleman’
In court, around 12 of Raymond’s victims – who were identified only by numbers – recalled how they had been deceived by a spy who was part of an agency “that is supposed to protect the world from evil”.
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One victim said Raymond seemed like a “perfect gentleman” when they met in Mexico in 2020, recalling only that they kissed. Unbeknownst to her, after she blacked out, he took 35 videos and close-up photos of her breasts and genitals.
Another described suffering a nervous breakdown, and a third said she has “nightmares” of seeing herself dead after being shown photos of herself taken by Raymond, in which she said she “looks like a corpse on his bed”.
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Reading from a statement, Raymond told judge Ms Kollar-Kotelly that he has spent countless hours contemplating his “downward spiral”.
“It betrayed everything I stand for and I know no apology will ever be enough,” he said. “There are no words to describe how sorry I am. That’s not who I am and yet it’s who I became.”
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His lawyers had sought a more lenient sentence, blaming his “quasi-military” work at the CIA in the years following 9/11 that became a breeding ground for the emotional callousness and “objectification of other people” that enabled his years of preying on women.
The sentencing comes as another veteran CIA officer faces charges in Virginia for allegedly reaching up a co-worker’s skirt and forcibly kissing her during a drunken party in the office.
A separate former CIA employee is also scheduled to face trial next month on charges he assaulted a woman with a scarf in a stairwell at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
The agency has publicly condemned Raymond’s crimes – thought to be one of the most egregious misconduct cases in the CIA’s history – and implemented sweeping reforms intended to keep women safe, streamline claims and more quickly discipline offenders.
Source : Sky News
