Fantasy Man Found Guilty Man Who Duped Women Into Sex Faces Up To 30 Years In Prison

The Fantasy Man was convicted of rape by fraud Thursday after two women described how he duped his victims into disrobing and agreeing to blindfolded sex because they thought he was their lover.

Raymond Mitchell III faces up to 30 years in prison for two counts of rape by fraud and one count of attempted rape by fraud. His sentencing was scheduled for March 14.

Police believe Mitchell, 45, has called hundreds of women over the years. Most hung up on him. But of the 30 women who reported Fantasy Man encounters to police, eight said they had sex with the caller.

Each encounter began with an early morning phone call to the sleeping women, prosecutors said. Whispering softly, he persuaded them he was their boyfriend and asked them to fulfill his fantasy of having sex with a blindfolded woman.

One woman said she had sex with Fantasy Man twice a week over two months in 1992, and only discovered he wasn’t her boyfriend when her blindfold slipped off.

Charges were brought in the cases of two women - a 27-year-old X-ray technician who testified she had oral sex and intercourse with Mitchell, and a 29-year-old flight attendant who said she peeked past her blindfold and saw him masturbating outside her motel window.

The two women gasped and then sobbed quietly when the verdict was announced after less than 3 hours of deliberation.

“I’m really happy for the victims,” said Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman. “They were vindicated. They finally got a chance for people to find out what happened.”

Mitchell’s lawyer, Ed Fowlkes, argued that the women were willing participants, and that they should have realized he wasn’t their boyfriend, particularly since he talked with each of them for up to an hour.

“These ladies made good witnesses,” Fowlkes acknowledged after the verdict. He said he would appeal.