Seems Ramos is a LEGAL IMMIGRANT


Union City man charged with sexually assaulting 2-year-old
By Rob Dennis and Matthew Artz
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 12/04/2010 12:00:00 AM PST
Updated: 12/04/2010 05:06:07 AM PST


FREMONT -- A registered sex offender was charged Friday with sexually assaulting a 2-year-old girl in a Union City Dollar Tree store, in what the prosecutor described as one of the worst cases she's had to deal with.

"I've seen a lot of bad cases, but this is near the top," senior deputy district attorney Angela Backers told reporters outside the courtroom at the Fremont Hall of Justice.

Eugene Ramos, 36, of Union City, was charged with committing a forcible lewd act with a child younger than 14, assault with intent to commit a sex crime and attempted intercourse or sodomy with a child younger than 10. He also was charged with having a prior "strike" for a 2005 conviction for sexually assaulting a child. He faces a maximum of 21 years in prison if convicted, Backers said.

At Backers' request, the judge held Ramos without bail and issued a protection order preventing the defendant from contacting the victim or her family.

"He's obviously a danger to society," Backers said. "He grabbed a little girl, tore her diaper off and tried to rape her."

Deputy public defender Kristen McCannon represented Ramos at Friday's hearing. She refused to comment as she left court.

Ramos, who is being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, did not enter a plea. His next hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday at the Fremont Hall of Justice.

Ramos is registered as a sex offender for sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl seven years ago, according to court records.

On Jan. 15, 2003, he exposed himself "while he simultaneously held down a 7-year-old female victim and pulled down her pants" while living at a Hayward apartment complex, according to records.

A neighbor heard the girl's screams and intervened before Ramos could rape her, according to the records. Ramos returned to his apartment immediately after the attack, where he later told officers that he liked the girl "like a girlfriend," according to records.

Authorities wrote in court documents that Ramos "recalled pulling down his own pants "... but could not remember pulling down the victim's pants, nor did he admit to touching her."

After the incident, Ramos was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and sent to Napa State Hospital.

He was ruled incompetent to stand trial until 2005, when he pleaded no contest to attempting to have sex with a minor and was sentenced to four years in state prison, according to court records. The maximum prison term was six years.

Ramos is one of five children in a family that emigrated from the Philippines in 1993 and settled in the Bay Area in 1995. He worked briefly in 2001, but otherwise lived with and depended on his parents until the 2003 arrest, according to the records.

Upon his release, he was ordered to live with his parents and brothers at the family home in Hayward. The family later moved to Union City.

Wednesday's incident began about 1 p.m. when, police said, Ramos grabbed the girl as she returned a ribbon to a Christmas aisle in the store at 1720 Decoto Road, momentarily leaving sight of her grandmother and aunt.

Ramos had the child pinned down in the aisle and was sexually assaulting her when he was spotted by the grandmother, police said. The child's pants and diaper had been removed and she was being straddled Ramos, who had pulled down his pants and underwear, police said.

He pulled up his pants and fled the store while being chased by the girl's grandmother and aunt, police said.

Men outside the store restrained Ramos until a BART police officer was flagged down and took him into custody.

The girl was treated and released from Children's Hospital Oakland with minor injuries.

Police are asking anyone who witnessed the crime to call Sgt. Jared Rinetti at 510-675-5229 or the tip line at 510-675-5207, or e-mail tips@unioncity.org.