A former US government employee Brian Jeffrey Raymond, 47, accused of drugging and sexually assaulting at least two dozen women during various overseas postings pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal sex abuse charges. 

According to documents by the Department of Justice, the ex-CIA officer was employed by the U.S. government at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. He admitted to drugging and sexually abusing several women in his embassy-leased housing and elsewhere between 2006 and 2020. He also admitted that over 14 years, he photographed or videotaped 28 victims while they were nude or partially nude. 

As per the documents, the recordings show the accused touching and manipulating the victim’s bodies while they were unconscious and incapable of consent. The ex-CIA officer also tried to delete the explicit pictures and videos of the victims after learning about the criminal investigation. 

The former US government officer will face between 24 and 30 years in prison and supervised release for life. He has been ordered to pay mandatory restitution to the victims of his criminal offences. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 18 and 19, 2024. 

“CIA condemns in the strongest terms the crimes committed by former Agency officer Brian Jeffrey Raymond, who was arrested in 2020. As this case shows, we are committed to engaging with law enforcement to ensure that justice is served,” a CIA spokesperson told CNN.

The investigation into Raymond began in 2020 after a naked woman was seen screaming for help from the balcony of Raymond’s Mexico residence, according to a news release from the US Embassy in Mexico. The release further said that the woman later said that she could not remember what happened after consuming food and drinks provided by the ex-CIA officer. 

He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual abuse and one count of transporting obscene material in 2021. However, a year later, he withdrew his guilty plea and said that he was innocent of the charges. He said that the agents unlawfully searched his phone. 

A 38-year-old Canadian woman went to the hospital to get surgery to repair her colon, which she had ruptured after a long battle with chronic pain, constipation and inflammation. The doctors told her that she was getting an ostomy, where waste would be excreted into a bag through an external opening in the abdomen. However, the woman, identified as Devlynn Cyr, woke up from the surgery to the harrowing news that she had stage 3 colon cancer. Even more shocking was that while she was under anaesthesia, doctors gave her a hysterectomy because “everything was like concrete”. 

“My husband gets a phone call halfway through surgery saying, ‘Here’s the problem. We found a tumour and it’s cemented to my uterus,'” Ms Cyr told People magazine. She revealed that initially, her husband Greg thought the call meant that his wife’s surgery was already over and it was a good sign. However, the doctors later told him that his wife had a tumour the size of a baseball and in order to safely remove the tumour, they needed to do a hysterectomy. 

“Okay, so this is happening and this just got a lot more real,” Mr Greg recalled, adding that he was afraid his wife of six months would “be mad at me and resent me for having to make that decision. We had talked about having children”. However, according to the outlet, the doctors explained to him that because of what the cancer had done to Ms Cyr’s Fallopian tubes and uterus, “there wouldn’t be a possibility anyway”. 

Also Read | Birth Control Pills May Impact Part Of Women’s Brains Responsible For Decision-Making: Study

This meant that the 38-year-old woke up to this awful news. “All of a sudden, my husband sits on the bed and he’s like, ‘I gotta tell you something,’ and my heart sank. He said, ‘I had to make a decision, and they gave you a hysterectomy, but you have no ostomy bag.'” Ms Cyr said. 

She told the outlet, “I couldn’t process the hysterectomy because I’m like, ‘I now don’t have an option of children?'” She added that she wanted to know, “Did they retrieve some eggs for me to be able to have children in the future? Like, do they even think of these things?” 

Sadly, no eggs were retrieved for Ms Cyr and the sudden reality was heartbreaking. From there, she turned to social media for others who may have been in the same situation concerning cancer and fertility. She started sharing her ups and downs of having cancer and the hardship of her marriage or a relationship on TikTok. She said that she doesn’t shy away from sharing the brutal realities of cancer. 

According to People, Ms Cyr has been told that her cancer has a 50% chance of recurring if she doesn’t undergo chemotherapy. So she will soon begin the six-month process. “I don’t want to, but I don’t wanna die either,” she said.

Ukraine’s parliament approved a state budget for next year on Thursday, aiming to strengthen its army and defences as Kyiv battles Russia in a 20-month-old war that has no end in sight.

Budget revenues are set at 1.77 trillion hryvnias ($48.4 billion) while spending is planned at 3.35 trillion hryvnias. Ukraine will face a huge budget deficit of about $43.58 billion in 2024, government officials said.

Next year, more than half of all Ukrainian budget spending is planned for the defence sector to fund the war effort against Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

“The priorities are clearly set in the budget. All our internal resources will go so we can withstand and win over the enemy,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said after the vote.

“Practically 50% of our spending – for defence and security of Ukraine. There will be more weapons and vehicles, more drones, ammunition and missiles. Every hryvnia from a taxpayer will go to the army.”

Shmyhal also said the government planned to increase minimum wages and pensions to help millions cope with the rising cost of living during the war.

Lawmakers said 276 deputies voted to support the budget, which also envisages higher spending for the education and health sectors next year.

Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said financial aid from Ukraine’s Western allies would be key to be able to cover the budget gap and pay for social and humanitarian spending.

The government had already received $35.4 billion this year and about $31 billion last year from its partners.

But getting foreign financial support next year could prove more challenging. Marchenko acknowledged that donor fatigue had grown as the war dragged on.

The government plans for the economy to grow next year, forecasting gross domestic product growth at 4.6% after a nearly 5% increase expected this year.

Last year, the Ukrainian economy shrank by nearly a third as millions of people fled the war, cities and towns were bombed, critical infrastructure damaged and supply and logistics chains severely disrupted.

With the war in its 21st month, businesses and people have adjusted to a new wartime reality. However, risks and uncertainty remain high, the government and analysts said.