A U.S. Embassy staff member accused of drugging and sexually assaulting at least 23 women over the past 10 years has lured at least one of his victims across international borders to Mexico from the United States for a night of abuse she barely remembers, according to an unsealed FBI affidavit. in federal court.
This is part of the new revelations in the case of Brian Jeffrey Raymond, a government employee stationed at the United States Embassy in Mexico City who allegedly committed a ten-year rape spree while on the payroll. federal. Initially charged with one count of coercion and seduction, Raymond now faces two more counts of sexual abuse committed in the “special maritime and territorial jurisdiction” of the United States – that is, that is, his apartment in the Tony Polanco neighborhood of Mexico City, which has been rented by the US government since 2013 for the use of diplomatic, consular and military personnel.
As the Daily Beast was the first to report, Raymond, 44, was arrested on October 9 in La Mesa, Calif., Where he remained with his parents after abruptly quitting his job. Court documents do not specify Raymond’s former post at the Mexico City embassy, where he had been posted since 2018, and his internet presence is almost non-existent. Prosecutors noted that Raymond speaks both Spanish and Mandarin Chinese and has worked in at least six countries for more than two decades of federal service that Raymond’s defense team called “exemplary.”
The State Department and the Justice Department have repeatedly declined to comment or provide further details on Raymond’s exact role in government.
If you have any additional information about Brian Jeffrey Raymond, you can contact reporter Justin Rohrlich securely at jrohrlich@protonmail.com
But prosecutors say that from 2011, Raymond “wielded power and control over the unconscious women” that he met primarily on dating apps. Investigators have discovered hundreds of photos and video footage of unconscious women in Raymond’s bed. In some, a naked man appearing to be Raymond holds his eyelids open, waves his limp arms and legs in the air, or inserts his fingers into their mouth to prove they are passed out, prosecutors said. At the same time, those who knew him were apparently totally taken aback by his behavior, which authorities described as “proof of his unique ability to portray a very different public face.”
The new charges Raymond now faces stem from additional communications FBI investigators retrieved from his electronics and iCloud account. In a conversation, Raymond convinced a California woman identified in court records only as “adult victim 2” to visit him in Mexico after their first date in the United States? – during which she unexpectedly passed out – according to the FBI affidavit.
Raymond and the unidentified woman began communicating in late 2017 and first met in February 2018, in San Diego. She told investigators that she passed out at some point during the date and could not remember any details for much of the night. In September, court records indicate that Raymond informed the woman that he had moved to Mexico City and asked her to visit him. He sent photos of himself and his new apartment, told her about the neighborhood and nearby restaurants, and suggested Halloween would be a great time to visit.
Although the woman was ultimately unable to arrange a trip to Mexico City for Halloween, she was able to get there to visit Raymond in November. The two had dinner together one evening and had lunch two days later, the woman told investigators. And while she said she remembered lunch, she said she passed out after dinner and had little memory of the evening she spent with Raymond.
FBI agents say they found 77 disturbing images and videos on Raymond’s devices during the two meetings which filled many disturbing blanks. In them, the anonymous woman is naked and unconscious, according to the affidavit. A man’s hand, which investigators believe to be Raymond’s, can be seen pulling down the woman’s underwear, pulling up her bra and opening her eyelids.
The woman told the FBI that she “was not aware of the existence of the photographs and videos and did not consent to them being taken,” nor did she “Accepted that Raymond touch her body while she was unconscious,” the affidavit states.
Other alleged victims told similar stories when confronted with obscene images Raymond allegedly took of himself abusing them no later than May 31, 2020. One of them, identified in the court documents as “adult victim 9,” told investigators she “lost all memory shortly thereafter.” arriving at Raymond’s apartment, and the last thing she remembers is walking down a hallway with him. She does not remember ever having sex or consenting to sex. Nevertheless, she woke up naked in her bed, and her body felt like it had been penetrated vaginally.
Another, identified in court records as “adult victim 7,” also had little recollection of the night she spent with Raymond and was completely unaware that her assault had been documented on film, prosecutors alleged. The woman said she only remembered going to Raymond’s apartment that night and kissing him, then throwing up at one point. She woke up in her bed completely naked but could not remember taking her clothes off.
A third, whom prosecutors refer to as “adult victim 6,” recalled going to Raymond’s apartment in Polanco and agreeing to have sex with him. However, she could only remember brief “flashes,” she told investigators. She also said she never consented to be touched while she was unconscious or to be photographed by Raymond.
Raymond first came to the attention of police last May when a naked woman was seen screaming for help from the balcony of Raymond’s apartment. She appeared extremely drunk, could not walk on her own, and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. There, doctors found “injuries consistent with vaginal and anal penetration”, including lacerations to the woman’s rectum which corresponded to “the introduction of a hard object with blunt edges.”
The woman had no recollection of physical contact with Raymond and did not recall calling for help. She met Raymond on Tinder, the woman told investigators, and went on a date with him at an outdoor mall. Raymond brought a bottle of wine, which they drank from coffee cups, after which the two returned to Raymond’s apartment. He offered her snacks and another glass of wine. Then she passed out.
Raymond was arrested by Mexican police, but returned to the United States the next day after claiming diplomatic immunity. The FBI seized Raymond’s personal and work phones, which provided the photographic evidence. Her laptop’s online history included searches for phrases such as “black girl passed out”, “deep sleep”, “Ambien and alcohol and fainting”, “dissolve” and “passed out and carried”. Raymond tried to erase his evidence, authorities say, but they were still able to extract much of what they needed to defend their case.
The new FBI affidavit says lab tests provided conflicting accounts of the woman’s level of intoxication on the balcony the night Raymond was apprehended by cops in Mexico City. The first tests did not reveal the presence of any controlled substance in his system, he says. However, further testing later by the FBI apparently revealed the presence of cocaine and methamphetamine.
After Raymond’s arrest in October, US Justice of the Peace Linda Lopez refused Raymond’s bail, turning him over to the US Marshals Service. Lopez quashed an argument by Raymond’s attorney at the time who said his client should be released because of his deep family ties, ties to the local community, and health issues that made him particularly vulnerable to the exposure to COVID-19 in prison. Prosecutors argued that Raymond had virtually ignored his parents and only sister for periods of up to a year and showed “no interest” in his nieces and nephews, and pointed out that Raymond’s behavior in recent months “did not show any interest” in his nieces and nephews. suggest no such concern for contracting COVID. “
“There are photographs and videos of three women unconscious in bed, two at the end of March 2020 and one on May 30, 2020, at the height of the COVID crisis,” the government detention memorandum said.
The FBI thinks there are more victims to be found.
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