Federal prison warden on trial for sexually assaulting female inmates
Tori Richards
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A federal criminal trial began Monday against a former San Francisco-area prison warden accused of sexually abusing several female inmates between 2019 and 2021.
Ray J. Garcia is one of five prison officers charged with sex crimes at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, a low-risk facility that housed actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman in 2020 for bribing college officials to admit their daughters.
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Garcia, 55, is charged with sexually assaulting one woman and ordering two others to strip naked so he could photograph them. At the same time, he led training on how to prevent prison rape and assault, KTVU reported.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed charges in September 2021 and Garcia retired the following month, proclaiming his innocence. He claimed to never inappropriately touch the women or ask them to get naked even though authorities found photographs on his computer and cellphone. A charge of lying to the government was added in July.
About 40 women told KTVU that they were raped, sexually assaulted, and threatened by prison staff who ordered them to keep silent about the events. Two of the other officers are awaiting trial and three have pleaded guilty.
One woman detailed a guard shining a light into her cell, demanding that she have sex with her cellmate or he could come in at any time and rape her. The two women engaged in sexual activity while the guard watched.
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Garcia said in court papers that he took photos of the women to document how they were breaching policy by standing around naked. Prosecutors intended to show dozens of explicit photos during trial, many taken without the victims’ knowledge.
One victim was offered a release by Garcia, who said he wanted to see her when she was out of prison. He groped her and forced her to touch him on another occasion, KTVU said.