Fort Worth Couple Accused Of Sexually Abusing Children, Cop Investigating Them Fails To Do Anything
A Fort Worth, Texas couple has been arrested and charged with a host of felony child abuse counts after it was discovered that they had been sexually abusing their children, as well as coaching them in how to perform sex acts, for years, The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram is reporting. Meanwhile, the Ft. Worth police officer who investigated the couple – in 2014 – failed to follow through with the case.
Jose Ernesto Ramos, and his wife, Annetta Theresa Ramos, described by the Star-Telegram as a “military couple,” have both been taken to jail. Jose Ramos, 40, has been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14. Annetta Ramos, 31, has been charged with two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14.
According to arrest warrants for the couple, the couple allegedly watched, coached, and instructed their two children – a male and a female – in having sex. At times, Annetta would force the female to perform oral sex on Jose, and would “help” her. Similarly, Jose Ramos allegedly forced the male to perform sex acts on Annetta and would “coach” him. Jose Ramos is also accused of sexually assaulting the female. If she resisted, the arrest warrant said, Ramos would grab her and/or threaten to hit her.
“The suspect admits that he and his wife Annetta would participate in teaching the [children] about sex and that he and his wife would remain in the room during the sexual acts.”
In 2014, the male – a teenager at the time – told a school counselor about the abuse. The teen boy said that Annetta Ramos had stopped coercing him into having sex with her because he wanted to stop. However, Jose Ramos allegedly continued the sexual abuse of the girl, a situation that made Annetta threaten to leave Jose. The teen boy said he chose to speak up at that time because Jose had been making plans to force the girl to have sex with another man.
The Ft. Worth Police Department’s Crimes Against Children task force was called in to investigate.
So if the Ft. Worth P.D. was aware of the allegations of sexual abuse against the Ramoses as early as 2014, why were they only arrested in 2016? As it turns out, the Ft. Worth police officer who handled the case appears to have dropped the ball.
Detective Dennis Hutchins, of the Crimes Against Children task force, investigated the Ramoses, and even heard Jose Ramos confess to some of the allegations against him. However, Hutchins failed to notify the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or his superiors, of his findings, even though the NCIS had contacted him on more than one occasion about their concerns about the Ramoses and their children.
“In an internal affairs interview, Detective Hutchins stated he ‘set the case aside’ and was waiting to confer with an additional prosecutor with the Tarrant County district attorney’s office. In the same interview, Detective Hutchins agreed that from March of 2015 to March of 2016, he never made any additional attempts to contact the Tarrant County district attorney’s office or conduct any further investigation in the case.”
Fortunately for the children, Texas’ Child Protective Services had removed the children from the home and forbidden the Ramoses from having any contact with them.
Meanwhile, Hutchins’ case load had been handed to another officer, who followed through with the allegations against the Ramoses and issued arrest warrants for them last week.
The Fort Worth couple accused of sexually abusing and “coaching” their children are jailed on $500,000 bond.
[Image courtesy of Mansfield Police Department]
