King City man convicted of raping child during a burglary sentenced

KING CITY, Calif. (KION) A King City man found guilty of violently raping a 10-year-old girl during a home burglary has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.

The man, 28-year-old Leonardo Ramirez Jr., was found guilty of raping the girl, but the jury also found that he personally inflicted bodily harm on her and used a dangerous weapon. The DA's Office also said he committed the burglary with intent to commit a sexual offense.

Suspect identified using mask found guilty of raping child in King City

The DA's Office incident happened at around 7 a.m. in February 2018 when the victim woke up to a man in her bedroom wearing a mask covering his face, gloves and a dark hoodie while holding what looked to be a handgun and pulling down her pajama pants. The victim said that when she tried to scream, he covered her nose and mouth, told her to shut up and pointed the gun at her head. Because she feared for her life, she did what he said.

The DA's Office said the girl had multiple injuries resulting from the assault and felt pain in some areas for weeks. Investigators were able to get DNA evidence and use it to develop a full profile.

Police interviewed suspects and took DNA samples for more than two years as they tried to identify the rapist, but none of the samples matched his DNA. It was uploaded to the FBI DNA database called CODIS, but there were no matches. Police said they even tried to use the DNA to identify possible relatives of the rapist but did not find anything to help them identify him.

In February 2020, the victim said her cousin-in-law, Ramirez, added her on Snapchat, but because he was so much older than her, she was suspicious. She noticed that he had a similar accent and build to the person who raped her, so she reported it to the police, who then began trying to find a way to get Ramirez's DNA without him knowing.

King City police use disposable mask to identify 2018 rape suspect

In May 2020, the DA's Office said King City police met with Ramirez to talk about another burglary investigation. When Ramirez went into the police station, detectives replaced their disposable COVID masks and offered Ramirez a new mask. When he accepted it and threw away his old one, police were able to get it and send it for DNA testing. The California Department of Justice expedited the request, according to the DA's Office, and ten days later, police learned that his DNA matched the rapist's DNA.

During the sentencing, the victim, her mother and her sister gave statements about how the crime has affected them.