A prominent member of the rock-climbing community was sentenced to life in prison this week for sexually assault incidents, including one that occurred in Yosemite National Park.
U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced the sentencing for 40-year-old Charles Barrett for two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact. According to the Press Democrat in Sonoma County, Calif., Barrett was well-known in the local rock-climbing community.
“People in Sonoma County’s rock-climbing community now tend to speak of him in the past tense – of the Charlie Barrett they once knew. Or thought they knew,” said the outlet.
It said that he first showed up at the Vertex Climbing Center in Santa Rosa, Calif., when he was 14. Back then, he was “funny, goofy, definitely charismatic,” and automatically talented, said Sarah McKay, a former general manager who was once co-owner of the gym. Barrett eventually dropped out of high school and went to tackle climbing destinations in Bishop and Mammoth Lakes, Yosemite and Joshua Tree national parks.
Before he turned 26, Barrett served two six-month prison sentences, for separate offenses. Gorden Cooley, who now owns Vertex, crossed paths with Barrett numerous times over the years. He said that Barrett was “pretty magnetic” but that it also “became apparent to most people that he had a drinking problem.”
“It’s unbelievably shocking to see that pattern of behavior had gone on for so long,” said Cooley, “with someone you thought you knew.”
In August 2016, Barrett was living and working for a private business in Yosemite. According to court documents, he assaulted a female victim there three times. During his trial, another three women testified that he sexually assaulted them. One of these victims said Barrett assaulted her around 2010.
“These assaults were not charged because they were outside federal jurisdiction but were admitted at trial as relevant to the charged assaults,” said the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.
In 2017, Barrett “purposely climbed at a rock-climbing gym,” the victim from 2010 attended, per the court documents. She told the gym owner about Barrett’s previous assault, and “he responded by harassing and threatening her for several years.”
He was convicted for criminal threats he made in January 2022 in August 2022.
Even after he was apprehended for the most recent charges, Barrett apparently showed no remorse. The District Attorney’s Office said he made hundreds of phone calls while in custody, including ones where he threatened to use violence and vindictive lawsuits against the victims.
“Barrett’s long history of sexual violence supports the imposition of a life sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Talbert. “He used his status as a prominent climber to assault women in the rock-climbing community, and when his victims began to tell, Barrett responded by lashing out publicly with threats and intimidation. This case is a testament to the courage of the victims who reported these crimes. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to investigate and prosecute violent crimes in National Parks like Yosemite.”
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