Sheriff's Office Employee and Wife Arrested for Locking Adopted Teen in Bedroom for 10 Years: Cops

The El Paso Police Department responded to the call on June 11 after hearing that the child had told a witness about being locked up by his parents and was not eating, according to court documents obtained by KTSM.

Police were able to speak with both parents, Richard Ramirez, 51, and Nora Ramirez, 52, as well as their adopted son, 15, per a press release from the department.

KTSM reports that Nora admitted locking the boy in his room from 10:00 p.m. to 7 a.m. and said that he had been home-schooled since he was five years old. She claimed that she had removed most of the furniture from the room because he kept urinating on the floor and bed.

According to coverage by KFOX, the boy later told officers that he would be locked in his room at night and his parents would only let him out whenever they woke up the next day, which would sometimes mean he was trapped in there with no access to food, water, or a bathroom until the afternoon.

He reportedly told police that he would have to resort to urinating out the window, in the room, or in an empty bottle. As for defecating, he said he had resorted to doing that into a bag or even in his pants.

Talking with officers, the boy described his day as waking up around 8 a.m. and waiting until his adoptive parents let him out, which he said generally happened around noon. He said he then ate lunch and would be homeschooled for three hours, do his chores, and be locked in again.

There was no radio, television, computer, or phone in his room, according to police, so he said he would generally just sleep in there until he was let out again around 8 or 9 p.m. for dinner. Afterward he was "immediately returned to his room."

Further, he purportedly said that this had been the case for him since he was approximately five years old.

Police described the room as containing nothing except for a bed, which had a mattress protector and blanket, and an empty desk table. They also noted numerous urine stains around the room, and confirmed the doorknob had been turned around so that it locked and unlocked from the outside.

The boy did say that he was sometimes let out when he needed to go to the restroom, but that his parents would stand outside the bathroom waiting for him to come out so they could immediately lock him back in his bedroom. He also said his room was searched regularly and he was not allowed to shower during the week.

Being locked in his room was not about bad behavior, according to the teen. He told police that when he misbehaved, he was beaten, punched on his arms or back, or he would get spanked with a back scratcher.

When asked if he'd done anything to get in trouble, the boy told them he was in trouble when his parents discovered he'd used some of their money to buy a phone. It was this phone that he had used to call the witness who ultimately reached out to police, per KTSM.

The teen said he had not been allowed to shower since Sunday, June 8 and had not had water or food for the past couple of days after this alleged incident, with the parents purportedly telling him, "What happens in the house, stays in the house."

Officers stated in their reports that both the boy and his clothing had a strong smell of urine, as did his room, and they gave him a change of clothes while there.

According to KTSM, citing court documents, three other individuals who used to live in the Ramirez household later told police the same things the 15-year-old described had happened to them when they were younger. They said they'd left the house last year and the situation had gotten worse for the remaining victim.

The Ramirezes were both taken into custody on June 11. On Friday, they were formally arrested and booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility on one count each of unlawful restraint of a child less than 17 years of age.

"Due to the serious nature of the allegations," the case has been referred to the Crimes Against Children Unit, per the El Paso PD's press release.

On Tuesday, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Richard Ramirez was an employee of that agency, per KFOX, but on Monday he submitted his paperwork to "separate from the Sheriff's Office," and it went into effect immediately.

Prior to that, he had been put on "administrative leave pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation," per a statement from the department at the time of is arrest.

KTSM reports that he was employed as a corporal at the jail annex of the sheriff's office.

"We have been cooperating fully with the El Paso Police Department regarding their investigation," said El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Priscilla Contreras in a statement to the El Paso Times. "As this is an ongoing matter, no further comment will be provided at this time."

The Ramirezes were being held on $100,000 bail each. They were released on Saturday, one day after their arrests, after posting a split bond, according to jail logs.