A former U.S. government employee was sentenced on Wednesday to 30 years in prison for drugging and sexually abusing multiple women across several countries, federal prosecutors stated.
He also photographed and filmed over two dozen unconscious or incapacitated women without their consent.
Brian Jeffrey Raymond, 48, of La Mesa, California, worked for the U.S. government, with his last post in Mexico City. While there, he drugged and sexually assaulted women in his government-leased home.
Between 2006 and 2020, Raymond drugged and recorded 28 victims while they were nude or partially nude, and admitted to drugging two others.
Many recordings show him touching the victims’ bodies while they were unconscious. Raymond tried to delete the explicit material after learning of the investigation.
According to NBC 10 in Philadelphia, 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 the photos of being assaulted while unconscious, NBC 10 reported.
“My body looks like a corpse on his bed,” one victim said of the photos. “Now I have these nightmares of seeing myself dead.”
Reading from a statement, 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. “There are no words to describe how sorry I am. That’s not who I am and yet it’s who I became,” NBC News reported.
“Brian Raymond sexually exploited dozens of women over the course of 14 years, including while he served abroad as a U.S. government employee,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s sentence underscores the Criminal Division’s commitment to prosecuting sexual abuse in violation of federal law — no matter where those violations occur or who commits them. We are grateful for the valuable partnership we have with the Mexican government and will continue to work with our domestic and international partners to pursue justice for victims of sexual exploitation.”
“This case demonstrates the strong commitment of the Diplomatic Security Service to work with our law enforcement partners here and abroad to investigate public servants in positions of trust who commit sexual assault anywhere in the world,” said Director Carlos F. Matus of the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). “It is a good example of how DSS’s global presence enables our agency to serve as a bridge between U.S. and foreign law enforcement counterparts to assist in bringing those who commit such heinous crimes to justice.”
In November 2023, Raymond pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse, one count of abusive sexual contact, one count of coercion and enticement, and one count of transporting obscene material.
As part of the plea agreement, Raymond admitted to drugging and then engaging in nonconsensual sexual acts with four women and nonconsensual sexual contact with six women.
Raymond further admitted to drugging and then creating obscene material depicting 28 women without their knowledge or permission, and drugging another two women.
Raymond was ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release and to pay $260,000 in restitution to the victims.
After his release from prison, Raymond will be required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
The DSS Office of Special Investigations, the DSS Computer Investigations and Forensics Division, and the FBI Washington Field Office investigated the case.
The Justice Department gratefully acknowledges the government of Mexico, including the Fiscalía General de la República (FGR), the Fiscalía General de Justicia de la Ciudad de México, and the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE), for its extraordinary efforts, support, and cooperation during the investigation.
Trial Attorneys Angela Buckner and Katharine Wagner of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith Mayer-Dempsey for the District of Columbia prosecuted the case.