Ex-warden who allegedly ran California prison ‘rape club’ goes on trial

First, the jail’s male warden would flatter the incarcerated ladies below his cost who attracted him, bathe them with compliments and promise them early releases or transfers to lower-security amenities, in response to authorities.

Ultimately, he would allegedly take them to locations in his lockup that he knew weren’t watched by surveillance cameras, pressure intercourse on them and take nude photographs of them.

However then among the ladies spoke out, exposing the horrors they endured on the federal jail that got here to be often known as the “rape membership”. Now the warden is probably serving his personal sentence as his trial has begun in a case that has shocked America and shone a horrible highlight on the abuses and crimes dedicated in its sprawling penal system.

Ray J Garcia – who ran the federal correctional establishment in Dublin, California, close to Oakland – retired after FBI brokers investigating reviews that he was preying on ladies serving time in his jail discovered nude photographs of a few of them on his government-issued telephone final yr. He and 4 different staff on the facility have been charged with abusing ladies on the embattled complicated, accused of breaking a regulation that prohibits sexual contact between jail staff and inmates.

Garcia, 55, has pleaded not responsible and this week grew to become the primary to go to trial earlier than a choose at Oakland’s federal courthouse.

His lawyer, James Reilly, maintains {that a} lack of video depicting any of Garcia’s purported abuses means he can’t be convicted. And Garcia took the witness stand in his personal protection, denying that he had any inappropriate contact with anybody below his energy and saying he snapped the nude photographs as a result of he thought the prisoners may need had medication, the Oakland information outlet KTVU-TV reported.

Three others have pleaded responsible, and one other is scheduled to be tried subsequent yr.

The case in opposition to the retired warden stands out as a result of he was the highest-ranking federal jail official arrested in additional than 10 years, charged with abusing at the least three ladies below his purview between December 2019 and July 2021.

It has additionally drawn consideration as a result of the jail he as soon as ran briefly housed actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman over their roles within the 2019 nationwide faculty admissions scandal. There is no such thing as a indication that both celeb met Garcia whereas they served their comparatively quick sentences.

After opening arguments and testimony started on Monday, one in every of Garcia’s accusers recounted how he stoked romantic curiosity in her and initiated a sexual encounter along with her within the lavatory of a customer’s space which she cleaned as a part of her obligations on the facility.

The girl stated there have been related encounters within the visitation room itself and in a warehouse the place others had been close by, with Garcia assured that he knew the place the jail surveillance cameras’ blind spots had been.

“I felt like he cherished me and he cared about me and I needed to make him completely satisfied,” the girl stated as her voice broke at factors throughout her testimony, in response to the Related Press.

Garcia’s initially “candy” disposition later turned “pornographic”, and he as soon as satisfied her to insert a half-eaten sweet cane into herself, that lady testified, in response to KTVU-TV. The girl finally realized that Garcia was carrying on equally with different ladies on the jail earlier than reporting him to the FBI and getting transferred to a different facility, the place she described being scorned as a “snitch” for talking up.

One other lady testified on Wednesday that Garcia confirmed her two cellphone photographs of his genitals and kissed her. Then, when she was later residing at a midway home, he took nude photographs of her throughout video calls – one thing to which she didn’t consent and initially didn’t find out about, she testified.

The girl stated she discovered of the photographs Garcia had furtively snapped after federal authorities subpoenaed her to testify in opposition to him.

Media haven’t printed the ladies’s identities, citing a coverage in opposition to naming victims of sexual violence.

Garcia most well-liked to focus on the ladies in his jail over others elsewhere as a result of he perceived them to lack the facility essential to “wreck him”, and he would get them organized to disrobe for him.

As soon as his habits drew consideration from federal authorities, Garcia lied to brokers who requested him if he ever touched any of the ladies at his jail inappropriately or coerced them into undressing, prosecutors contended.

In an interview with the FBI two months earlier than his September 2021 arrest, Garcia acknowledged seeing the ladies held on the Dublin jail undress however claimed he would come across the sight in the course of the regular course of enterprise.

“We see inmates dressing and stuff … and in the event that they’re undressing, I’ve already appeared,” Garcia stated, in response to courtroom data cited by the FBI. “I don’t, like, schedule a time like, ‘You be undressed, and I’ll be there.’”

Throughout his testimony, he denied sexually touching anybody housed on the jail, conceding solely that he had some bare video chat photos on his private laptop computer, KTVU-TV added.

Garcia accepted a promotion to the Dublin jail’s high administrative submit from an assistant warden place in November 2020. That was in the course of the time that he was suspected of actively abusing ladies housed on the facility, whose lives – from once they eat to what time they fall asleep – are managed by jail officers.

He finally retired after first being suspended over the allegations in opposition to him.

Authorized observers anticipated that Garcia’s trial could be a scathing indictment of the federal jail system’s dealing with of sexual abuse complaints in opposition to its officers and the way those that run its amenities are chosen.

As a part of his workload, Garcia educated officers and prisoners on tips on how to report abuse and adjust to a federal regulation geared toward eliminating rape, which has develop into endemic in lock-ups and – in response to analysis from the Rape, Abuse and Incest Nationwide Community – is generally carried out by staffers. Girls on the jail reported being despatched to solitary confinement or transferred out in the event that they spoke up about abuse, prosecutors alleged.

A KTVU-TV journalist overlaying Garcia’s trial reported that at the least two prosecutors’ witnesses tried to keep away from testifying, fearing retaliation. A scientific psychologist who labored on the Dublin jail took the witness stand and mentioned being concerned that one of many ladies on the jail who known as Garcia a “dangerous man” could be made to take care of penalties by directors, KTVU-TV added.

An AP investigation from February discovered that complaints like those in opposition to Garcia dated again at the least 5 years, although it’s not clear that any of them sparked significant motion. In actual fact, the AP reported, one of many ladies on the jail recalled {that a} staffer taunted her with the phrase “let the video games start” earlier than leaving her with a colleague who raped her.

If convicted, Garcia may withstand 15 years in jail. One of many different Dublin jail officers who’ve pleaded responsible – the chaplain James Theodore Highhouse – acquired a seven-year sentence, although he’s interesting, saying it’s extreme as a result of it was greater than double what was really helpful by federal tips.

Garcia’s trial is predicted to final at the least till subsequent week.

The Related Press contributed reporting