Judge sentences ex-Dublin federal prison warden in inmate sex abuse case

OAKLAND — The former warden of a Dublin federal prison and reputed member of the facility’s notorious “rape club” was sentenced Wednesday to nearly six years in prison for sexually abusing incarcerated women and later lying to investigators about it.

Ray J. Garcia received a sentence of 70 months in prison by a federal court judge during the hearing, which came three months after a jury convicted the warden of sexually abusing three incarcerated women at FCI Dublin and trying to cover it up.

Garcia, who wore a gray suit and blue and white tie, was ordered to turn himself in and begin serving the sentence on May 19.

The sentence sat squarely in the middle of disparate requests from both sides: Prosecutors had sought 15 years for Garcia, while defense lawyers asked for a prison term of less than two years.

It came shortly after two of the three women Garcia was convicted of abusing testified about the horrors they endured – one of them calling the ex-warden a “sick predator” while describing how she contemplated suicide due to the trauma of his abuse.

“I was not seen as a name or number by the federal government, but seen as a sexual play toy,” said another woman, who described her post-traumatic stress disorder and extreme mental anguish from the abuse. “My sentence did not come with a clause to be sexually abused by prison staff.”

In imposing the sentence, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers chastised Garcia for his role in tormenting women at the federal facility. And she chided him for lying on the stand during his trial.

“I sentence hundreds of people; I expect and they should be able to expect that when they go into federal custody, they won’t be abused,” Rogers said. “And you abused them. And there was no one watching you – you were the warden, and you were the associate warden.

“You were supposed to be the check. You were supposed to be the person making sure no one else did that.”

She also slammed Garcia for taking part in – and furthering – an apparent culture of sexual abuse and misconduct within FCI Dublin, especially in his role as warden. Garcia is one of five corrections officers charged with sexually abusing incarcerated women at FCI Dublin, which had an informal nickname among staff and inmates as the “rape club,” according to court records. Three have pleaded guilty, and one of those has received seven years in federal prison.

“You entered a cesspool and then did nothing about it. You just went along with the ride and enjoyed the cesspool yourself,” Rogers said. “You should have done something about it.”

Her ruling came after Garcia – for the first time – admitted fault for abusing women at the prison and expressed contrition and remorse. In the process, he also waived his right to appeal the verdict and sentence.

“Your honor, I stand before you today as a broken man,” Garcia said. “I could not be more ashamed. I can’t be more sorry.”

Regarding his victims, he added: “I cannot imagine the pain, fear and shame they’ve gone through as a result of my actions.”

His words carried little sway for Tess Korth, who worked at FCI Dublin as a unit manager until July 2022, when she retired. She said she was among the people who helped bring the abuse to light, leading her to sit through his trial and subsequent sentencing hearing.

Korth felt that Garcia should have been sentenced to far more time behind bars, and she questioned the decision by Rogers to impose all of Garcia’s sentences concurrently, rather than consecutively. Had she done so, Garcia would have had to spend more than 13 years in prison.

“It’s ridiculous, the time he got,” said Korth, shortly after the hearing. “That’s like a slap on the wrist.”

After the trial late last year, a jury took only a day to return a guilty verdict against Garcia, whose long career crumbled in the face of myriad accusations that he sexually abused incarcerated women and lied to federal investigators.

During the trial, Garcia’s victims described various acts of sexual abuse, from touching, kissing and groping to instructing women to be nude in their cells when he was making his rounds, to showing them pictures of his erect penis. One woman said Garcia instructed her to pose nude on another woman’s bed and took a picture of her. She also described on the witness stand how Garcia knew what sections of the prison weren’t covered by security cameras and would figure out ways for them to meet there.

Garcia’s attorney described his accusers as liars and convicted felons, and contrasted that with Garcia’s lengthy career in public service. He was warden of FCI Dublin from November 2020 to July 2021 and before that was an associate warden. But prosecutors said it was all a facade, describing Garcia as a skilled liar who banked on his victims not being believable.

The women also alleged that Garcia bragged about being friends with Lt. Stephen Putnam, who is in charge of investigating abuse complaints at the prison, as a means of dissuading them from coming forward. But Putnam yanked the rug out from Garcia’s defense. At the end of trial, he testified that there was no professional justification to explain Garcia taking a nude photo of a woman, KTVU news reported.

Near the end of his trial, Garcia testified that he was making the rounds one morning when he heard an inmate inside a cell that was supposed to be empty. He claimed he opened the door and took a picture with his work cellphone, thinking he would be catching her in the act of flushing contraband down the toilet, only to discover her naked on a bed.

But Garcia’s story didn’t end there: he claimed he took the camera home, and used his personal computer to crop his own reflection out of it. That too, was for a work-related reason, he insisted on the stand.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.