A professional rock climber from California who used brutal force to sexually assault a woman in Yosemite National Park was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday, officials said.
, 40, was found guilty in February of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact, according to a statement from US Attorney Phillip A. Talbert.
While living and working at the national park in August 2016, Barrett sexually assaulted a woman three times over the course of a weekend, according to court records and evidence shown at trial.
Three other women testified at Barrett’s trial that he also sexually assaulted them, prosecutors said.
He was not charged in those assaults because they were outside federal jurisdiction, but the victim’s testimonies were admitted at trial as relevant to the charges Barrett faced.
Talbert said that Barrett deserved a life sentence due to his “long history of sexual violence.”
“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,” Talbert said. “This case is a testament to the courage of the victims who reported these crimes.”
Court documents also revealed Barrett’s intimidation of the women he assaulted.
In 2017, seven years after assaulting one of the victims who testified, Barrett purposefully showed up at the rock-climbing gym the victim climbed at.
When the victim told the gym owner to protect other women at the gym, Barrett responded by “harassing and threatening her for several years,” according to prosecutors.
After he was taken into custody in 2022, Barrett made hundreds of phone calls that showed he had “no remorse or regret,” according to prosecutors.
“Instead, he threatened to use violence and vindictive lawsuits against the victims, claiming that they designed a conspiracy to ruin his life.”
Read More: Pro rock climber Charles Barrett gets life in prison for sexual assaults in Yosemite
