DUBLIN — In the latest shocking allegation of sexual abuse by an employee at the East Bay’s low-security women’s federal prison, the warden of FCI Dublin has been charged with sexually assaulting an incarcerated woman and ensuring she would be powerless if she tried to put a stop to it.
It is the third time in two years that an employee at FCI Dublin has been accused of abusing his authority to sexually assault an incarcerated woman; two of the allegations have resulted in federal charges. Earlier this year, former prison guard Ross Klinger was charged with sexual abuse of two women at the prison — including one woman who he allegedly proposed to and offered gifts.
But the latest accusation of sexual violence goes all the way to the top. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors unsealed a charge against Warden Ray J. Garcia, 54, who is accused of brazenly sexually assaulting one woman, sexually harassing another, and keeping naked pictures of the sexual assault victim — taken in her cell — on his work computer. During one incident, Garcia forced the alleged victim to place her hand on his genitals, according to federal prosecutors.
“Further, the complaint alleges that Garcia requested that the victim, and at least one other inmate, strip naked for him when he did his rounds at FCI Dublin,” prosecutors wrote in a news release Wednesday. “As detailed in the complaint, Garcia told the victim that he was ‘close friends’ with the individual responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct by inmates and told the victim that he could not be fired. In addition, law enforcement located hundreds of sexually graphic photographs — including photographs of male and female genitalia and nude photographs of Garcia — on Garcia’s work cellphone issued by (the) Bureau of Prisons.”
Garcia himself was in charge of training employees on the Prison Rape Elimination Act, a federal law designed to prevent just the type of things that prosecutors said have been going on at the prison on his watch. The release from the U.S. Attorney says that Garcia was the associate warden of the prison at the time of the offense.
Garcia was charged with the sexual abuse of a ward and made his first appearance before a federal judge on Wednesday, according to prosecutors. He was being held without bail in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, according to jail records.
If convicted, Garcia could face up to 15 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
In Klinger’s case, prosecutors charged him of sexual abuse of two incarcerated women on prison grounds. The complaint alleges that he stayed in touch with both women and had video visits with one of them after being transferred to a federal prison in San Diego. He used an alias to avoid being caught, according to the complaint.
But the allegations don’t end there. In 2019, a woman who was incarcerated at FCI Dublin sued the prison, accusing guard William Martinez of sexually abusing her and others of helping cover it up. According to the allegations — which the defendants have filed court papers denying — the warden before Garcia, Charleston Iwuagwu, authorized placing the woman in solitary confinement for three months “until she confessed what Martinez had done to her.”
“(Corrections officers) Bruce West and Joel Eddings (the woman’s) direct work-supervisors, knew that Martinez was sexually abusing (her). Not only did West and Eddings fail to protect (her) from this known sexual abuse for over a year, but they taunted her about it, on one occasion telling her, ‘Let the games begin,'” the lawsuit says.
This newspaper has removed the woman’s name based on a policy to not name alleged victims of sexual assault without their consent.