A renowned professional rock climber was convicted in U.S. federal court on Tuesday for repeatedly assaulting a woman during a weekend in Yosemite National Park, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.
Charles Barrett, 39, was found guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact for attacking a woman referred to as K.G. in court documents. During Barrett’s trial, three other women testified against him, claiming he had sexually assaulted them too.
These alleged assaults were not pursued in federal court because they were outside the jurisdiction of the Attorney General’s Office, but they were deemed relevant to Barrett’s trial. The assaults at Yosemite fall under federal jurisdiction because it is a national park managed by a federal agency.
U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said Barrett used his fame in the world of rock climbing to lure in his victims, whom he later threatened ahead of trial.
“This defendant used his renown and physical presence as a rock climber to lure and intimidate victims who were part of the rock-climbing community. His violent sexual assaults were devastating to the victims, whom he later threatened in the lead-up to the trial,” Talbert wrote in a Tuesday statement.
“Today, the defendant has been held accountable for his crimes. My office will continue its work to make National Parks such as Yosemite a safe place for all.”
Barrett is due to be sentenced on May 21. He faces a life sentence in prison and a US$250,000 fine.
According to Outside magazine, K.G. was 19 at the time of the assaults in August 2016.
Motions submitted by prosecutors allege that Barrett arranged to meet K.G. at Yosemite after she planned a hiking trip to the area. After she finished her hike on the first day, Barrett invited her to a swimming hole with friends and later said they should watch a meteor shower with the same group of people.
“Rather than meet up with the group, however, Defendant led K.G. to an isolated area where he laid out a blanket and began kissing her aggressively,” the records state.
Barrett then strangled her, sexually assaulted her and even pulled her nose ring out in the struggle.
“After the assault, Defendant led K.G. back to his cabin, where he slept on top of her all night, preventing her from leaving.”
The next day, Barrett assaulted K.G. two more times.
The next morning, K.G. drove home and called a friend to tell her about the attack. In May 2018, K.G. disclosed her experience in an anonymous survey that prompted the survey’s administrator to connect her with another woman who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Barrett, as well.
In 2020, K.G. formally reported the sexual assault.
The survey that helped K.G. come forward is called Safe Outside, developed by a team of data experts including Dr. Callie Marie Rennison, to collect data about sexual assault and harassment in the climbing community.
Rennison told Outside she was “thrilled with the verdict” when Barrett was convicted.
“The hard work of investigators, litigators, survivors, witnesses, journalists, jurors as well as Safe Outside are directly responsible for this just outcome,” she added. “It took a village.”
Barrett’s lawyers, Timothy Hennessy and David Torres, maintain their client’s innocence and said they plan on appealing the verdict.
“Mr. Barrett knew going into this that it would be a long fight to clear his name. But it is a fight he will not give up,” Hennessy and Torres said in a statement Tuesday, per NBC News.
Court documents viewed by Outside demonstrated that Barrett stalked and harassed his victims after attacking them. Over a 14-year period, Barrett had at least nine protective or restraining orders filed against him by four women who all said they feared for their lives. The harassment included death threats, Instagram trolling and impersonating a police officers.
Before Barrett was arrested in 2022, he was known as an elite climber who worked with the best of the best. A 2019 profile in Tahoe Quarterly showed he counted Alex Honnold — one of the most famous rock climbers today, known for being the first person to climb El Capitan in Yosemite without any ropes — among his friends.
“Charlie is a very strong, naturally talented climber,” Honnold said of Barrett.
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