Professional climber Charlie Barrett receives life sentence for sexual assault in Yosemite National Park

A professional rock climber has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting a woman three times during her visit to Yosemite National Park.

Charles Barrett, 40, was convicted on Tuesday of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact, according to federal prosecutors.

According to court documents and evidence, Barrett’s “sexually abusive encounter” occurred in August 2016 while the victim was on a weekend hiking trip in California.

At the time, Barrett, a star climber and guidebook author, lived and worked for a private company in the park.

US Attorney Phillip Talbert said after the verdict: “Barrett’s long history of sexual violence justifies the imposition of a life sentence.”

“He used his status as a prominent climber to attack women in the climbing community, and when his victims began to speak out, Barrett responded by publicly responding with threats and intimidation.”

During the trial, prosecutors said Barrett lured her victim to a remote area by inviting her to watch a meteor shower and then raped her, local news reported.

According to court documents, he also attacked her while swimming in the Tuolumne River and raped her again in a communal shower.

Three other women testified during the trial that Barrett had sexually abused them since 2008.

Prosecutors did not file charges against these women because the alleged incidents occurred outside federal jurisdiction.

On the day the verdict was announced, local news reports showed the four women in the courtroom bursting into tears and at times holding hands tightly.

Timothy Hennessy, Barrett’s lawyer, told the judge that a life sentence would be inappropriate because Barrett suffers from a mental illness.

He also says the women conspired against him to “ruin his life,” prosecutors said.

Barrett’s lawyers said he intends to appeal the ruling.

According to federal prosecutors, Barrett had long been a victim of abuse and harassment.

He showed up at a climbing gym frequented by one of the victims, who testified at a trial in 2017, years after he allegedly attacked her, prosecutors said.

She told the gym owner about her experience – hoping to protect other women – and was harassed and threatened by Barrett for years afterward, prosecutors said. He was convicted of criminal threatening in August 2022.