An Austin Water employee has been snagged by the law for allegedly having a stash of child pornography. 61-year-old Mark Raymond, a wastewater pipeline technician associate, was taken into custody on Nov. 29 during his work shift at a city job site. His arrest marks the second for an Austin Water staffer on the job since June 2022, according to KXAN.
Raymond is entangled in accusations of possessing at least seven videos showing children in sexual acts swapped through the Kik Messenger app. This suspect scenario came to light in May after a sleuthing cybercrime tip crept its way to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, leading to a police probe and an arrest affidavit. Meanwhile, the utility has admitted Raymond's still on the payroll and planted at the Webberville Service Center, despite the damning allegations and the shared backdrop with former colleague Corie Cornist, who faced his felonies earlier in the year.
In an incident that's a disturbing echo, Cornist, then 33, was accused of sexual assault and robbery, with claims of picking up a woman outside an Austin Walmart in an Austin Water truck. He then allegedly sexually assaulted her in the vehicle, took her phone, dragged her out, and ran her over, causing grave injuries, as reported by KXAN.
Across town, I scored the affidavit that paints the picture of Raymond's takedown, detailing how cybertips tied him to the illicit files shared on Kik Messenger, Facebook, and Snapchat by cross-referencing photos and emails from his various profiles and shining a spotlight on the grim contents he's believed to have uploaded, as per KVUE.
Austin Water, caught in the tangle of courtroom drama and cyber sleuthing, has clamped down on chatter regarding Raymond's case, offering a tight-lipped "We do not have a comment on this active investigation," in a statement acquired by KVUE.
