Local

Local chef says he was struggling with masculinity when he raped 3 women

ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News is hearing from a man who admits to drugging then assaulting three women.

“I want to apologize to the women in the case. Not only them, but my wife and my daughter who I truly let down, but it was in my best interest to take a plea,” Raymond Jones said.

Jones said he loved the life he was living as the persona known on YouTube as Chef Ray.

Now, he says he’s come to terms with what he’s known as now -- a convicted rapist after guilty pleas to a slew of charges involving three young women in a condominium he rented at the posh downtown building called 12.

“I have identified the monsters within myself that I’ve been holding back and I’m at peace with myself,” Jones said.

“You don’t deny the rape of these three women?” Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne asked Jones.

“I accept full responsibility for my actions,” Jones said.

Winne interviewed Jones not far from 12 -- at the Fulton County Jail. Chief Fulton County jailer Mark Adger said Jones will soon depart the jail and taken to state prison.

“I got the next 25 years to think,” Jones said.

Jones said the guilty plea for which a judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison was not negotiated.

The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office said Jones raped one victim while out on bond on charges relating to the first two rapes, and the prosecution wanted a life sentence.

[READ MORE: Judge admits mistake after rape suspect let out on bond is accused of similar crime]

Jones said he was sexually molested as a child and sexually assaulted in the Army, where he also suffered a head injury.

“You’re not making excuses?” Winne asked.

“No, I am not making any excuses. I didn’t plead mental health,” Jones responded.

Jones said at the time of his crimes, he struggled with his masculinity.

“In the mix of my fame and my ambition, in the inside, I was trying to define who I was as a man,” Jones said.

Jones acknowledged giving alcohol to two of the victims who were younger than 21 and Ambien to one of them and suggested he hopes by talking about what he did wrong, he can deter others from exploiting women when drugs or alcohol have rendered them unable to consent.

“We are in an age where drugs and alcohol run rampant,” Jones said.