Defendant Sexually Assaulted Woman at Gunpoint
WASHINGTON - Ryan Ramotar, 24, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to a 15-year prison term for sexually assaulting a woman and assaulting a man in a May 2013 attack in Northwest Washington, Acting U.S. Attorney Vincent H. Cohen, Jr. announced.
Ramotar pled guilty in September 2014, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to one count each of first-degree sexual abuse and aggravated assault. He was sentenced by the Honorable Rhonda Reid Winston. Following his prison term, he will be placed on 10 years of supervised release. He also must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
According to the government’s evidence, on May 6, 2013, at approximately 12:50 a.m., the male and female victims had just parked their car in a parking lot in the 1400 block of Oak Street NW. While they sat talking in the car, Ramotar and another male approached and opened the car doors. Ramotar and the other male pointed handguns at the victims and asked where the money was. He and the other male punched and struck the male victim in the head until he lost consciousness and lay on the ground next to the car.
Ramotar then pulled the female victim out of the car while still brandishing the gun and pushed her to the ground. He struck her several times in the head with the gun, demanding her money and phone. He took her phone and ATM card, and then told her to stand up and not to run. Then he walked the female victim away from the car, down an alley and into an open garage behind a house. At this point, Ramotar opened the cylinder of the gun, removed several bullets, and placed them in the female victim’s hand to show her that the gun was real. Ramotar then sexually assaulted the victim while holding the handgun to the back of her head.
Afterward, Ramotar told the female victim to look at the wall and demanded her PIN number for the ATM card that he had taken. He told her not to leave, and then fled. The female victim stayed on the ground for a short time until she was sure that the assailant was gone, and then ran and flagged down a uniformed officer with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). After making her report, she was transported to Washington Hospital Center for a Sexual Assault Nurse Examination (SANE). The SANE kit was later sent for forensic testing and analysis.
Within less than two hours after the attack, at approximately 2:20 a.m., three withdrawals were made on the female victim’s bank account for $300 each. Detectives later obtained still photos and surveillance video footage of the person conducting these transactions. MPD later made this video public via the Internet, and sought the public’s assistance in identifying the individual at the ATM as a person of interest. In September, 2013, MPD received information that the individual on the bank surveillance video was the defendant.
Ramotar also was subsequently linked to the crime through DNA.
In announcing the sentence, Acting U.S. Attorney Cohen commended the work of the officers and detectives of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Third and Fourth Districts and Sexual Assault Unit, as well as the mobile crime scene officers and technicians who worked on the case. He acknowledged the work of the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences. He also expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including former Victim/Witness Advocate Melissa Milam and Victim/Witness Advocate Christina Principe; Victim/Witness Specialists La June Thames and Katina Adams-Washington; and Paralegal Specialists Jason Manuel, Kristy Penny, Debra McPherson, and Erica Vample. Finally, he praised the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Natalia Medina, who assisted in investigating the case, and Amy H. Zubrensky, who prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
