{"id":44980,"date":"2018-08-06T17:58:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T17:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/08\/06\/navy-chief-facing-multiple-sex-crime-charges-in-norfolk\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:49:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:49:53","slug":"navy-chief-facing-multiple-sex-crime-charges-in-norfolk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/08\/06\/navy-chief-facing-multiple-sex-crime-charges-in-norfolk\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy chief facing multiple sex crime charges in Norfolk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The military is prosecuting a Navy chief in Norfolk on multiple sex crime charges, including an alleged rape that triggered an international incident in Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief Intelligence Specialist Ray D. Braimer has been charged with tugging down a fellow sailor\u2019s leggings and underwear and raping her while she resisted on March 22, 2017, inside a Dublin hotel <\/a>during a liberty visit by the guided-missile destroyer Donald Cook to the southern Irish port of Cobh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors further claim that Braimer unlawfully crawled into the bed of female sailor in Ireland on the same date and tried to kiss her without her consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also on the same day, he allegedly sexually harassed a fellow sailor by telling her she was beautiful and inviting her to his room and \u201cstating that he hates the fraternization policy of the Navy that prevents him from being with any woman he found attractive because of pay grade,\u201d according to redacted charge sheets released to Navy Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braimer also faces an abusive sexual contact charge for allegedly rubbing the knee of a female sailor in Souda Bay, Greece, three months earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the charge sheet\u2019s redacted passages, it\u2019s impossible to determine if the alleged victims were multiple women or the same sailor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Navy officials and Braimer declined comment and the chief did not return multiple telephone and social media messages left for him by Navy Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braimer was arrested by the Garda\u00ed<\/a> \u2014 the Irish police \u2014 in the morning after the alleged sexual assault and he was accused of violating Section Four of Ireland\u2019s Criminal Justice Act of 1984. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The female sailor was taken to a local hospital where she provided a sexual assault evidence kit and made a statement to Irish police, who were joined in the investigation by Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of Braimer\u2019s arrest, the American embassy in Dublin issued a statement that Navy officials were cooperating fully with Irish authorities and expressed the \u201cdeep respect and gratitude to the people of Ireland for the personal friendship that they have extended\u201d to visiting service members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irish authorities later surrendered jurisdiction to the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Tuesday hearing in Braimer\u2019s court-martial case has been postponed and no trial date has been set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A member of the crew of the Norfolk-based destroyer Gonzalez since early 2016, Braimer was temporarily assigned to the Donald Cook when the alleged crimes occurred. It\u2019s forward deployed to Rota, Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Texas, Braimer enlisted in the Navy in 1998 and has served aboard the amphibious warships Wasp and Nashville as well as the cruiser Normandy and the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His personal awards include four Good Conduct Medals and six Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals. He became a chief on Jan. 16, 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\t