CIA officer jailed for sexually abusing
dozens of women
A former CIA officer has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting morey than two dozen women while working for the agency in South America. Law enforcement found hundreds of images of the disgraced spy groping and abusing his unconscious victims on his computer.
Brian Jeffrey Raymond was handed his sentence by a Washington DC court on Wednesday, nearly a year after he pleaded guilty to one count each of sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact, coercion and enticement, and transportation of obscene material.
As part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors, Raymond admitted to raping an additional four women, sexually abusing six, and taking obscene photographs of 28 female victims.
Raymond’s crimes began in 2006, and spanned nearly two decades. Prosecutors told the court last year how the veteran agent would use dating apps to meet his victims while posted in Mexico, Peru, and other countries. He would meet these victims at his government-leased apartment, serve them spiked drinks, and sexually assault them after they lost consciousness.
The FBI, Justice Department, and State Department began investigating Raymond in 2020, after police in Mexico City responded to a naked woman screaming for help from the balcony of Raymond’s residence, according to court filings. The woman told officers that she had been drugged and raped by Raymond, and Raymond later admitted to sexually abusing her.
Investigators later found more than 500 images of nude and unconscious women on Raymon’s computer. In some of the images, Raymond could be seen groping the women, forcing their eyelids open, and placing his fingers inside their mouths.
Prosecutors told the court how Raymond kept detailed records on his victims, “noting their age, ethnicity, and at times whether their breasts were real.”
“When this predator was a government employee, he lured unsuspecting women to his government-leased housing and drugged them,” US Attorney Graves said in a statement on Wednesday. “After drugging these women, he stripped, sexually abused, and photographed them. Today’s sentence ensures that the defendant will be properly marked as a sex offender for life, and he will spend a substantial portion of the rest of his life behind bars.”
Addressing Raymond during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly called the former spy a “sexual predator,” and told him that he was “going to have a period of time to think about this.” In addition to the prison sentence, Raymond was ordered to pay $260,000 in damages and remain on parole for the rest of his life.
RT
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Tennis coach sentenced to six-and-a-half years in Britain
for child-sex offences worked at four Irish clubs
Sean Francis McGranaghan (33) described by police as ‘dangerous individual who has never admitted liability for heinous crimes’
Sean Francis McGranaghan (33), with an address at the Mill Apartments, Dromahair, Co Leitrim, was found guilty of two counts of attempting sexual communication with a child and two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court.
The conviction came after an investigation by the UK’s southwest Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU)
Det Insp David Wells, from SWROCU’s Online Investigations Team, said McGranaghan, who had pleaded not guilty, was “a dangerous individual who has never admitted any liability for his heinous crimes”.
He said he was pleased McGranaghan had been given “a significant custodial sentence in response to this [and] will no longer pose a risk to children whilst incarcerated”.
McGranaghan came to the attention of SWROCU after making contact online with a specialist covert officer who he thought was a child in January 2023. He also came to the attention of covert officers within the Metropolitan Police area later last year when he communicated with an individual who he thought was a child.
He was arrested at Gatwick Airport in May 2023 by SWROCU officers from the Online Investigations Team and remained in the UK on bail in advance of the trial.
Speaking on RTÉ Morning Ireland on Friday the chief executive of Tennis Ireland, Kevin Quinn, said the organisation became aware of the conviction earlier this month.
It immediately established “a small working group to identify where he worked” and to “contact those clubs and make sure that we got this very serious information and [McGranaghan’s] name out to all the members as soon as possible”.
It emerged the man had worked in clubs in Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo and Donegal. Mr Quinn said all the clubs had been “very proactive” in alerting their members to the conviction.
“He wasn’t on the Garda radar at any time, no flags were raised and he obviously was working in the UK for many years before that,” Mr Quinn said.
He said that as part of the process – alongside Garda vetting – it was “independently verified” he was who he said he was and “that he was an appropriate person to work with children and with adults on court”.
He added the clubs “are contacting all of their members”.
Sligo Tennis Club issued a statement to its members in which it said it had been “advised by Tennis Ireland that Sean McGranaghan, who previously coached at our club [September 2021-December 2022], has been convicted and sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison in England”.
It said it was “working to identify the children who attended coaching groups during the time Mr McGranaghan was coaching”.
“We will be making every effort to contact all parents in due course”, it said, adding there was “no indication that any inappropriate conduct occurred at the club”.
The statement added it “adheres strictly to all safeguarding requirements set forth by Sport Ireland, Tennis Ireland, Badminton Ireland and Irish Squash” and said that “as per safeguarding policies, Mr McGranaghan was Garda vetted and had all appropriate Tennis Ireland coaching qualifications requirements”.
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