Former CIA spy gets five-and-a-half years for drugging and sexually abusing an Algerian woman



Sentence is two years longer than recommended time

Judge says he took a 'calculated risk' the Muslim woman would not report it

CIA agent went on a drug-fuelled binge to evade capture, but eventually found in a hotel with a gun, high on crack



Former spy Andrew Warren admitted the sexual assault, but denied drugging the woman in his Algerian mansion where he was living and working

A former CIA spy has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail for drugging and sexually abusing an Algerian woman while he was head of the agency’s operations in the North African country.

The length of sentence was longer than expected for Andrew Warren, 43, who went on a crack cocaine-fuelled run from the law after police initially questioned him.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle said Warren seemed to think he could get away with the crime because he had diplomatic immunity and his victim was a married Muslim who would be unlikely to report the crime for fear of becoming an outcast.

But the victim, an international businesswoman with dual citizenship in Algeria and a European country who had known Warren professionally, reported the crime to officials at the U.S. Embassy seven months later.

The incident happened in his 30-room mansion the CIA gave him in Algiers in February 2008 after Warren invited the woman to his home.

Preparing drinks, he is thought to have slipped a drug into her drinks which left her drifting in and out of consciousness, losing muscle control and was unable to stop Warren from undressing her and forcing himself on her.

Algeria: The North African country where Warren was head of CIA undercover operations, has recently been the target of protests during unrest in the region

Warren initially said the sexual contact was consensual, but prosecutors said another Algerian woman had told a similar story – which he was not charged for.

That woman said she fell unconscious after consuming drinks Warren prepared during a party at his home in September 2007, but she couldn't say what happened while she was unconscious.

Warren still maintains they had consensual sex, and he was not charged in that incident.

Investigators who searched Warren's mansion, where his attorney said he was living undercover, found many drugs, including Xanax and valium, which are sometimes used as date rape drugs.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle said Warren had made a calculated risk by choosing the Muslim woman because he thought she wouldn't report it

Warren denies that he drugged either of the women. Investigators also found a book on investigations of sexual assault and a computer with pornography downloaded.

Warren was fired from his job, and returned to the United States.

But after failing to show up for a hearing, federal agents went searching for him near his home in Norfolk, Virginia, where they discovered a neighbour had filed a report that he exposed himself to her.

Prosecutors say the agents eventually found him high on crack in a motel room with a semi-automatic pistol in his shorts pocket. He was taken to jail, where he remained.

Warren pleaded guilty to abusive sexual contact and a gun charge, with federal sentencing guidelines recommended 27 months to 33 months behind bars.

But judges have authority to sentence outside the guidelines, and Huvelle said he deserved more time to reflect the seriousness of the offence and to protect society.

She said she didn't think Warren understood the damage he had done to his victim, whose identity was protected by the court.

She added: ‘I think you took a calculated risk that she wouldn't report it.’

Warren's attorney, William Martin, had argued that his client suffered from post-traumatic stress from combat experiences, the details of which were classified and kept under seal in court filings.

He asked for a sentence of one year to reflect Williams’s service to his country and allow him to get mental health and substance abuse treatment not widely available in prison. ‘He's a sick man,’ Martin said. ‘I've watched him spiral downward.’

Warren told Huvelle he was sorry and deserved a second chance. ‘I utterly failed as a human being,’ Warren said. The judge was not swayed, although she acknowledged he had had an excellent career.

‘It's rare that the court is confronted with someone who has achieved so much and fallen so far,’ she said.