International News

U.S. Policieman Charged with Sexually Abusing Girl in Cambodia
Date Posted: 10/31/2006

ASSOCIATED PRESS 11:25 p.m. October 29, 2006

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – A police officer from San Francisco has been arrested and charged with sexually abusing a girl in Cambodia, officials said Monday.
Ngeth Sarath, a prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said that on Sunday he formally charged Donald Rene Ramirez, 50, with debauchery for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old ethnic Vietnamese girl.

Police arrested Ramirez at his rented apartment in Phnom Penh Thursday, said Keo Thea, chief of the anti-human trafficking police unit for the city.
The American had been seen bringing the girl into his apartment, Ngeth Sarath, the prosecutor, said, adding that the man has denied sex abuse allegations against him.

“He is a policeman, so it is not easy for us to get him to talk,” Ngeth Sarath said.

He added that police also arrested the girl's mother, who allegedly provided the girl for Ramirez.

Debauchery is a Cambodian legal term for sexual offenses against minors, and is punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison.

Last week, 46-year-old Myron Maboris from the U.S. was also charged with debauchery after his arrest for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20061029-2325-cambodia-us-sexabuse.html