Former decorated Tulare County Sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Ray Ramirez faces up to six years, four months in state prison following five felony convictions Friday involving domestic violence.
The jury also convicted Ramirez of six misdemeanors, giving the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office a clean sweep on its 11 counts.
Deputy district attorney Katrina Brownson prosecuted the case.
Ramirez received four felony convictions for crimes between May 2018 and July 2019. Those were for corporal injury on a significant other, stalking, intimidating a witness, and intimidating the victim.
The jury also found Ramirez guilty of a felony for intimidating a second witness, a minor, in May 2019.
Although Ramirez was charged with forcible rape and spousal rape of a different woman in late 2008, the jury convicted him on the lesser charges of misdemeanor battery.
Ramirez’s sentencing is scheduled for June 30.
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‘Nobody’s Above the Law’
Both the Visalia Police Department and Tulare County Sheriff’s Office investigated Ramirez. He was employed by the Sheriff’s Office at the time of his arrest.
“All our investigations are basically approached the same way,” Visalia Police Sgt. Gary Williams told ABC30 in 2019. “It doesn’t matter where you work, who you work for, who you are, nobody’s above the law. Everybody needs to be held accountable, that’s our job.”
Ramirez was awarded its Medal of Valor in 2015 for his life-saving efforts under a hail of gunfire during a check on a parolee in Porterville.
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Help Available for Domestic Violence Victims
Family Services of Tulare County is available to help anyone experiencing domestic or sexual violence.
You can call 559 732-5941 (domestic violence) or 559 732-7273 (sexual assault) any day or time.
You can also chat with a crisis counselor from 8 a.m to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at https://fstc.net/help/chat.html.
