Part #2: Judge Garaufis on Sentencing Raniere to 120 Years: ‘Abuse Inflicted Unimaginable Trauma and Damage’ on Daniela and Camila

In the previous post, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis’ sentencing memorandum was published. In it, he explains how and why he came up with a sentence for Keith Raniere of 120 years.

From that post, I removed a section on Camila and Daniela because I wanted it to stand alone. It clearly gives the viewpoint of the judge on these two victims and how he felt about them and Raniere. These two sisters may have accounted for decades of additional prison time for Raniere.

By Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis

From his sentencing memorandum.

The evidence before me makes clear that Mr. Raniere’s conduct was particularly egregious because he targeted and exploited girls and young women. He continued this abuse over the course of many years. And his abuse inflicted unimaginable trauma and damage on his victims.

Take, for instance, his sexual exploitation of Camila (Jane Doe 2). Mr. Raniere first met Camila when she was 13 years old. In their first conversation alone, they spoke about how Camila had just placed second in her eighth grade spelling bee contest….  Mr. Raniere began a sexual relationship with Camila two years later, when he was 45 and she was 15….

He took naked pictures of 15-year-old Camila, something she describes as being “seared into my memory.”… Years after they met, Mr. Raniere told Camila he knew she was “special” ever since they first met each other when she was 13….

Mr. Raniere exerted control over this child in every way imaginable. As she puts it, “[h]e used my innocence to do whatever he wanted with me – not just sexually but also psychologically. He manipulated me into what he wanted, for his own reasons [and] for his own pleasure.”…

Mr. Raniere directed Camila to overstay her visa, thereby giving him additional leverage over her, and he put her up in an apartment where he would, “come  in the house, have sex, and leave.” …  He controlled and manipulated her in every way. He told her he needed a ”vow of absolute obedience,” and that she had “to be happy whenever you are with me because my time means that much.”…

[This is from texts messages between Camila and Raniere read at trial.]

In one message, Mr. Raniere wrote her:

“If you want me to come tonight, I will under these conditions: there will be no talking. You will meet me at the door in the outfit you think I would find sexiest. You will arouse me, we will make love for my satisfaction and pleasure. You will do everything you can to provide that. I will finish and leave. Do you agree yes or no?”

When Camila had a relationship with another man, Mr. Raniere “punished [her] emotionally, psychologically, and sexually.”

He branded her.

As Camila tells the court:

“I hold scars on my body from him that can never be erased. They carry immense emotional and psychological pain. They are a reminder of his cruelty and manipulation. He knew exactly what he was doing, even asking me at some point if having his initials on my body would keep me from being with other people. He drew pleasure from knowing he had marked me. I was his. Even when I got a tattoo to cover his mark, it was not enough to disguise the pain and shame it reminds me of.”

Mr. Raniere’s abuse of Camila was cruel to the point of inhumane. He made her ask his permission for almost everything, including to contact her family and to cut her hair….

At one point, Camila messaged Raniere, “I feel like I have a gun pointed at me and I’m [] just trying to say what you want to hear so you won’t shoot but I don’t know what it is you want to hear.”…

Simply put, the harm he inflicted  upon her is incalculable.

Mr. Raniere had many other victims. Mr. Raniere, along with others, trafficked Daniela (Jane Doe 4) into the United States, and she began working for Raniere.

Mr. Raniere initiated a sexual relationship with Daniela when she was 18 years old. As he did with many of the girls and women he had sexual relationships with, Mr. Raniere instructed Daniela to keep their relationship a secret.

When Daniela developed feelings for another man, Mr. Raniere told her parents that she had committed an “ethical breach.”…

To punish Daniela, Mr. Raniere ordered that she be confined to a room in her parents’ home without human contact.

At Mr. Raniere’s instruction, Lauren Salzman, one of the “First Line” DOS members, threatened Daniela that if she left the room, she would be sent to Mexico without any identification documents….

Like his treatment of Camila, Mr. Raniere’s treatment of Daniela was particularly cruel because of the psychological harm he inflicted on her at such a young age. Forced to remain in her room for months and months on end, Daniela testified that one of the worst aspects of her kidnapping was the feeling that, “I’m in a world where nobody cares that  I’m losing my life,” and thinking that “it was clearly never [going to] end.”…

It is necessary for me to mention at this juncture a letter submitted in support of Mr. Raniere that I received from Hector, the father of Daniela and Camila.

I am frankly baffled why anyone thought this letter would help Mr. Raniere. In the letter, Mr. [name redacted even though the judge named Hector’s last name in court]  waxes nostalgic about how Mr. Raniere helped him run a marathon, before turning to slandering his own daughter, Daniela, calling her a liar and a thief, and implying she had no one but herself to blame for what happened to her.

Let me be clear: I find Mr. F. [redacted]’s letter, in support of the man who abused his own daughters, a disgrace.

And, to Daniela, who is here today in the courtroom, let me also be clear: what happened to you is not your fault, and I am deeply impressed with your courage and resilience. And that goes for all the victims who have spoken today, either in-person or by video or audio.