Sylmar dollar store employee arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting at least three minors
A 60-year-old employee of a Sylmar store has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting three children under the age of 12, police said Wednesday.
Enrique Ramirez was arrested by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Mission Division on July 26 and charged with three counts of sexual assault against a minor, according to online court and jail records.
One of the victims filed a complaint against Ramirez on July 17, accusing the 60-year-old of assaulting him several times inside American Dollar Plus, a convenience store in a strip mall in the 12700 block of Glenoaks Boulevard in Sylmar, according to a news release issued Wednesday by LAPD.
A second person contacted police three days later and accused Ramirez of repeatedly abusing him inside the store over a 10-month period that began last year, according to Det. Ian Lewis, the lead investigator on the case.
Investigators served a search warrant at the store on July 26, and Ramirez was arrested without incident.
The third assault took place in 2006, according to Lewis, who said Ramirez had previously been under investigation in connection with that incident. Lewis declined to comment on what, if any, relationship Ramirez had to the victims, or say where the 2006 assault took place.
He is being held in lieu of $1.8 million bail, according to jail records. Ramirez did not enter a plea at his first court appearance, and he is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 25, records show. A call to Ramirez’s attorney seeking comment was not immediately returned.
It was not immediately clear whether Ramirez owned the store where two of the assaults took place or simply worked there. A call to American Dollar Plus was not immediately returned Wednesday morning.
Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.
UPDATES:
12:00 p.m.: This article was updated with information on Ramirez’s court appearances.
10:05 a.m.: This story was updated with additional information about the assaults.
This article was originally published at 9:15 a.m.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
