| For Immediate Release Case # 06CF3898
July 18, 2008 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
4TH STRIKER SENTENCED TO 25 TO LIFE FOR MOLESTING 14-YEAR-OLD GIRL AFTER BREAKING INTO HER HOME THROUGH KITCHEN WINDOW
SANTA ANA – A man was sentenced today to 25 years to life in prison for molesting a 14-year-old girl while she slept after breaking into her family’s mobile home through a kitchen window. Jose Acosta Ramirez, 26, Santa Ana, was found guilty by a jury May 30, 2008, of felonies for assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense during the commission of first degree burglary, first degree residential burglary, and lewd acts on a child. The sentencing enhancement allegations for forcible lewd acts and non-accomplice present during a residential burglary were found true. The defendant has a three strike prior for a 2002 residential burglary in California, and residential burglaries in Georgia in 1999 and 2000.
At approximately 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 5, 2006, Ramirez went to a mobile home park in Santa Ana and broke into a mobile home through an unlocked kitchen window. Inside the home a mother and father were sleeping in one room with their two young children while their other two daughters, ages 11 and 14 years old, slept in another room. Ramirez walked through the house, opening and closing bedroom doors to see who was sleeping inside. The sound of their bedroom door closing awoke the mother and father, who called 9-1-1 to report that someone was inside the home.
While the parents were calling 9-1-1, Ramirez entered the room of sleeping Jane Doe, 14, and her 11-year-old sister. The defendant, who was under the influence of alcohol, began stroking the victim’s leg. When Jane Doe woke up, Ramirez motioned to her to be quiet and began rubbing her chest and vaginal region over her clothes. Jane Doe screamed and the defendant attempted to flee the scene, but the victim’s father caught him as he tried to escape through a back door. Police arrived as the defendant was attempting to flee and arrested him.
Jane Doe submitted a victim impact statement to the Court for consideration during the sentencing. In her written statement, the victim described the sexual assault against her as a “bad dream” that “changed [her] life completely” and has caused her to be fearful in her own home when she could once “walk through [her] neighborhood freely.”
Deputy District Attorney Mark Sacks of the Sexual Assault Unit prosecuted this case.
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