Officer kills himself in jail sex with 14 yr old

[KC]

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A San Francisco police officer died Tuesday from an apparent suicide while in the custody of Cambodian police who arrested him on charges of sexually abusing a girl, officials said.

Officer Donald Rene Ramirez "committed suicide by firing two bullets into his mouth," said Keo Thea, chief of anti-human trafficking police for the capital Phnom Penh.

He said a police guard had left his small gun unattended to go to a bathroom around 6 a.m. Tuesday, local time. The American used a broom stick to pull the gun from under a woven mat on which the police guard had slept and used the gun to shoot himself, Keo Thea told reporters.

Keo Thea's unit arrested Ramirez, 50, last Thursday on charges of allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old ethnic Vietnamese girl.

Pol Phithey, a deputy police commissioner for the capital Phnom Penh, said a special committee comprised of court and police officials is being set up to investigate the incident.

Jeff Daigle, a U.S. Embassy spokesman, identified the American as Ramirez.

"We are aware of reports that an American citizen has killed himself while in police custody and we are investigating the matter. We have no details that we can release at this time," Daigle said.

Spokespeople for the San Francisco Police Department did not immediately return calls for comment.

Ngeth Sarath, a prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, on Sunday formally charged Ramirez with debauchery, a Cambodian legal term for sexual offenses against minors that is punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison.

Officer Ramirez had been seen bringing the girl into his apartment but denied allegations of sexual abuse, the prosecutor said Monday. Police also arrested the girl's mother, who allegedly provided the girl for Ramirez.

www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/15888963.htm

[wild5042]

Isn't it just a little suspicious that someone supposedly incustody commits suicide with two shots in their mouth from a supposedly unattended gun ---hummm, maybe murder comes to mind?

[Grunt]

I see it this way;

The guy was a cop, therefore he was a bottom feeding criminal.

The guy could not have been in that country for any legit reason, other then abusing underage girls, therefore he is again a bottom feeding criminal.

Two time loser got what he had coming to him. Saving the state countless dollars in "rehabilitation" costs. I see no problem with any of this.

[WaTcHeR]

11.15.2006 - Phnom Penh - A San Francisco police officer who apparently shot himself while in police custody on paedophilia charges has been unceremonially cremated in a lonely rite at a Buddhist pagoda, US embassy and Cambodian police officials said Wednesday.

Donald Rene Ramirez, 50, was arrested on October 26 by anti-trafficking and juvenile protection police under a court order relating to sexual abuse of a minor. Police said a teenage girl rescued in connection with another paedophilia case against two German nationals made an additional complaint against Ramirez.

The US national was being held in police custody pending further investigations when he apparently committed suicide less than a week later by pulling a police guard's gun into his cell with a mop handle and shooting himself in the mouth.

Deputy chief of Phnom Penh anti-trafficking police, Keo Thea, said he did not attend the cremation but could confirm it did take place late Tuesday at the capital's Wat Preah Puth pagoda, which is known for often hosting the cremations of paupers and criminals due to its low costs.

'Not many people attended. The pagoda staff and the men who drove the body from the hospital morgue in the ambulance were there,' Thea said.

A US embassy spokesman also confirmed Ramirez had been cremated at the request of his family. His ashes will be flown home to the US.

The spokesman said the embassy did not yet have the final report on how Ramirez managed to shoot himself in his cell, but that this was now a matter for the Cambodian authorities as they were the ones investigating the case.

A Vietnamese woman accused of supplying Ramirez with two girls aged under 15 for sex remains in custody pending trial. The age of consent in Cambodia is 15.

Cambodian authorities have arrested around 20 foreigners this year on child sex-related crimes. Also arrested have been a number of parents charged with supplying children for sex with Western men. The crime carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/article_1222117.php/US_policeman_who_committed_suicide_in_Cambodia_jail_cremated

[WaTcHeR]

11.17.2006 - SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal authorities confirmed Thursday an investigation into the past actions of San Francisco police Officer Donald Ramirez, who died of an apparent suicide last month in a Cambodian jail cell where he was being held for sex crimes.

The death of Officer Donald Ramirez, 50, has some in and around the Police Department calling for a renewed investigation into whether he was traveling for years to Southeast Asia for sexual tourism -- a name given to the crime of traveling overseas to solicit children for sex.

On the evening of Oct. 31, police Sgt. Neville Gittens confirmed that Ramirez, a 25-year veteran of the force, had killed himself days earlier in a jail cell in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Local authorities had apparently arrested Ramirez for sexual activity with a 14-year girl.

A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday that Ramirez had been under investigation since 2001 when the San Francisco Police Department reported his suspicious travels.

According to Virginia Kice, immigration officials searched Ramirez as he came into the country several times but they never found any evidence of a crime.

"We have received several new leads and we will pursue those vigorously," Kice said.

Akha human rights activist Matthew McDaniel says he told an FBI agent that Ramirez "… had a real appetite for underage girls" when the agent contacted him a decade ago in Burma. McDaniel became aware of Ramirez and his habits when the officer frequented the village of Chiang Rei on the Thai-Burmese border when the activist lived there in the mid-1990s.

And McDaniel and sources in the police department told KTVU reporter Rita Williams that other officers sometimes accompanied Ramirez on his extended visits and returned to work to brag about it.

Thursday, the mayor reacted by saying that there will be an internal investigation in the police department to see who knew what and when.

"Look, we take this seriously. I take this seriously," said Mayor Newsom. "We're going to do what's appropriate."

Police Chief Heather Fong also addressed questions about the renewed investigation into Ramirez's past and whether anyone in the department knew whether or not he traveled to Southeast Asia for sexual tourism.

"As the federal investigation moves forward, and there's information, the department will take any necessary steps," Fong said. "If people had factual information then that is a problem. We are law enforcement officers who are sworn to protect the public and to enforce the law, so if someone is aware of criminal activity and they choose not to do anything about it, that is a problem."

Police commissioner Joe Veronese said last week of the investigation that "there was no greater issue in the department than this." The police commission, however, has yet to announce if it will take up the issue.

Other police organizations are staying away from any involvement in the incident.

"Whatever he does in his off-duty time is his matter," Police Officers Association Vice President Kevin Martin said. "This is not a POA issue."

www.ktvu.com/news/10340307/detail.html

[WaTcHeR]

watcher said:

Whatever he does in his off-duty time is his matter," Police Officers Association Vice President Kevin Martin said. "This is not a POA issue.

So another words what President Kevin Martin is saying is that himself and the police union are all for police officers being child rapist or child pedophiles, just as long as the officer is "off duty." I wonder if Kevin Martin has any children? Any off duty pedophile cops out there?