Professional rock climber Charles Barrett found guilty of sexual assaults in Yosemite
By Harika Maddala
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CALIFORNIA (KCRA) — Professional rock climber and guidebook author Charles “Charlie” Barrett was convicted of sexual assaults in Yosemite National Park on Tuesday.
U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced that a federal jury found Barrett guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of sexual contact that occurred during a weekend in the national park.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of California, the victim testified in court that Barrett, who was working and living in the park, sexually assaulted her three times when she went to Yosemite for a weekend of hiking.
Three other women came forward during the trial and testified that the rock climber also sexually assaulted them. While the assaults on the women were not charged due to them being outside federal jurisdiction, the assaults were admitted at the trial as relevant to the charged assaults, prosecutors said.
“This defendant used his renown and physical presence as a rock climber to lure and intimidate victims who were part of the rock-climbing community,” Attorney Talbert said. “His violent sexual assaults were devastating to the victims, whom he later threatened in the lead-up to trial.”
Barrett is facing a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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