A longtime CIA officer who drugged, photographed, and sexually assaulted more than two dozen women in postings around the world was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison Wednesday after an emotional hearing in which victims described being deceived by a man who appeared kind, educated, and part of an agency "that is supposed to protect the world from evil." Brian Jeffrey Raymond sat dejectedly as he heard his punishment for one of the most egregious misconduct cases in the CIA's history, the AP reports. It was chronicled in his own library of more than 500 images that showed him in some cases straddling and groping his nude, unconscious victims.
"It's safe to say he's a sexual predator," US Senior Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in imposing the full sentence prosecutors had requested. "You are going to have a period of time to think about this." Raymond pleaded guilty to four of 25 federal counts in November. As part of his sentence, the judge ordered him to pay $10,000 to each of his 28 victims.
- Prosecutors say the 48-year-old Raymond's assaults date to 2006 and tracked his career in Mexico, Peru, and other countries, all following a similar pattern: He would lure women he met on Tinder and other dating apps to his government-leased apartment and drug them while serving wine and snacks. Once they were unconscious, he spent hours posing their naked bodies before photographing and assaulting them. He opened their eyelids at times and stuck his fingers in their mouths.
- One by one, about a dozen of Raymond's victims who were identified only by numbers in court recounted how the longtime spy upended their lives. Some said they only learned what happened after the FBI showed them photos of being assaulted while unconscious.
- Raymond told the judge 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.
- The CIA has publicly condemned Raymond's crimes and implemented sweeping reforms intended to keep women safe, streamline claims, and more quickly discipline offenders. But a veil of secrecy still surrounds the Raymond case nearly four years after his arrest. Even after Raymond pleaded guilty, prosecutors have tiptoed around the exact nature of his work and declined to disclose a complete list of the countries where he assaulted women.
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