FBI Search Of CIA Leak Suspect Turned Up Photos Of Sex Assault On Unconscious Friend
FBI Search Of CIA Leak Suspect Turned Up Photos Of Sex Assault On Unconscious Friend
The government suspects that Joshua Adam Schulte gave documents to WikiLeaks, but they’re holding him on child pornography charges.
By Ryan J. Reilly
Toru Hanai / Reuters
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/joshua-schulte-wikileaks-cia-hack_us_5afb56fce4b06a3fb50b8e79
WASHINGTON ― A 30-year-old former CIA employee the federal government suspects ― but has not charged with ― giving a massive trove of agency documents to WikiLeaks is also facing charges in Virginia, where he’s accused of snapping photos as he sexually assaulted a passed-out friend as she lay on the floor of his bathroom.
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The FBI also sent along photos they obtained from one of Schulte’s phones to prosecutors in Loudoun County, where he lived when he worked for the CIA. The photos, taken in April 2015, show a woman “passed out on the floor” of his bathroom and being sexually assaulted. The unnamed woman has been referred to as Schulte’s friend and former roommate.
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“The victim remembers the night in question. It was one of the few nights that she passed out and didn’t remember what occurred. She could also, apparently, identify the bathroom, which was the bathroom where she was staying as a roommate of Mr. Schulte’s,” a federal prosecutor said at a hearing in January. The government told the judge that the woman was unconscious at the time, and was unable to identify Schulte as assaulting her. But prosecutors in Virginia, the federal government told the court, were evidently able to confirm that the pair of hands depicted assaulting the woman belonged to Schulte.
But even if it wasn’t Schulte who assaulted the victim, the federal prosecutor said it was “outrageous that Mr. Schulte would keep these types of images of someone who is supposed to be his friend on his phone” and contended it “shows more than just someone who wants to look at things; it shows someone who cannot control their impulses.”
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Schulte was recently assigned a federal public defender after his private attorney dropped out. The Times reported that Schulte’s family had spent most of their savings on legal fees.
Meanwhile, Schulte remains in federal custody. Evidently a fan of Ayn Rand, he’s also begun writing lengthy, pseudonymous essays about the injustices of the federal criminal system for “John Galt’s Legal Defense Fund,” according to the Post and the Times. The Facebook page, a reference to the hero of Atlas Shrugged, had just two likes as of Tuesday.
Ryan Reilly is HuffPost’s senior justice reporter, covering the Justice Department, federal law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs. Have a tip? Reach him at ryan.reilly@huffpost.com or on Signal at 202-527-9261.
