Professional rock climber Charles Barrett was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in Yosemite National Park, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California announced.
Barrett, 40, was convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact for the 2016 attack of a woman at Yosemite, where he worked for a private business and lived in the park at the time. Barrett sexually assaulted the victim, who was there for the weekend, three times, according to court documents.
The steep sentence came after three additional women testified that Barrett also sexually assaulted them. Their cases were not charged because they occurred outside federal jurisdiction, but their testimony was admitted as relevant to the charges.
"Barrett's long history of sexual violence supports the imposition of a life sentence," U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert said in a statement. "He used his status as a prominent climber to assault women in the rock-climbing community, and when his victims began to tell, Barrett responded by lashing out publicly with threats and intimidation. This case is a testament to the courage of the victims who reported these crimes. The U.S. Attorney's Office will continue to investigate and prosecute violent crimes in National Parks like Yosemite."
One of the women testified that in 2017, seven years after Barrett assaulted her, he purposely began climbing at the rock-climbing gym she attended. When she alerted the gym owner in order to protect other women at the gym, Barrett responded by "harassing and threatening her for several years," prosecutors said. He was convicted in 2022 for making criminal threats earlier that year.
While in custody in the current case, prosecutors said Barrett made "hundreds of phone calls" in which he "threatened to use violence and vindictive lawsuits against the victims, claiming that they designed a conspiracy to ruin his life."
"We are grateful for the tireless work of the National Park Service investigative team and the U.S. Attorney's Office to bring this case to justice," said Yosemite National Park Superintendent Cicely Muldoon. "Today's sentencing sends a clear message about the consequences of this criminal behavior. It makes Yosemite a safer place for the climbing community, park visitors and our employees."
--with reporting by TMX
