A La Mesa man and former United States government employee has pleaded guilty to drugging and sexually abusing dozens of women in multiple counties over the course of a fourteen-year period while photographing or recording them.
Brian Jeffrey Raymond pleaded guilty on Nov. 7 to taking videos or photographs of at least 28 unconscious women over the course of 14 years, and groping the victims while recording or photographing them.
According to court documents, Raymond was most recently employed by the U.S. government at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Mexico. Raymond admitted to drugging and sexually assaulting several women in his embassy-leased housing — and elsewhere –between 2006 and 2020.
Raymond was arrested in La Mesa in the fall of 2020.
Raymond later admitted to photographing or video recording a total of 28 women nude or partially nude. Many of the recordings show Raymond touching the women’s bodies while they were unconscious and incapable of consent.
Raymond then tried to delete the explicit photographs and videos of the victims after learning about the criminal investigation.
Raymond also admitted to having sex with two of the women in the recordings, which prosecutors say were made in 2020 at his embassy-leased home in Mexico City. Both women “were incapable of appraising the nature of the conduct or consenting to it,” according to a Department of Justice statement.
An FBI statement from 2021 seeking information from the public about potential victims stated that Raymond had worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for many years and was last working at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
The investigation into Raymond was sparked after a nude woman was spotted on the balcony of his Mexico City apartment on May 31, 2020 “screaming for help.” She told investigators she met Raymond over a dating app, but blacked out after having food and drinks that he provided, according to court documents.
The investigation revealed “hundreds of photographs and videos” depicting unconscious and nude women on Raymond’s cell phones and other electronic devices, according to the Department of Justice.
A search of his online history turned up searches for unconscious women, as well as the side effects of prescription drugs and their potential side effects when combined with alcohol, according to the DOJ.
Raymond will be sentenced on Sept. 19, 2024. Under the plea agreement, he faces between 24 and 30 years in prison, supervised release for life, and mandatory restitution to the victims of his criminal offenses.
Originally posted 2023-11-17 22:42:48.