How Could You? Hall of Shame-Michael Ramos UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From New York, New York, Michael Ramos, 34, “was arrested at his Burke Ave. apartment after responding to a call of a domestic disturbance at the home, where cops uncovered a shocking house of horrors.”

“The 13-year-old boy and the 14-year-old girl were recently rescued from their domestic torture chamber in a tale of abuse.”

“The children were discovered Monday bruised and emaciated after being held captive since January — a monthslong hell in which they were whipped, stabbed and tortured by the biological son of their deceased adoptive mother — according to authorities.

The first indication that something was amiss at the home was an unregistered Ruger 9-mm. pistol with the registration scratched off lying on the dining room table, according to police.

The weapon had a live round in the chamber, ready to fire, and 16 more bullets in the magazine, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Bronx district attorney’s office.

The 13-year-old boy in the apartment appeared gaunt, with swollen eyes and bruises on his body, according to an affidavit by Officer Kelby Castulo, who responded to the address

The 14-year-old girl, who was also found in the unit, told police that the children had not been allowed to leave since January.

Prosecutors said their adoptive mother died in December of unknown causes and that the kids fell into the custody of Ramos, who would repeatedly beat and threaten them. He kept them in a room with a lock that could only be opened from the outside, according to court papers.

The Bronx Defenders, representing Ramos, did not respond to a request for comment.

A relative of Ramos disputed some of the details in the court record.

She said the foster mother, Carmen Chardon, actually died three years ago. She added that the children had not been locked away for months.

“People have seen the kids since January,” said the relative, who did not want to be named.

She said she saw the children “recently in the past month.”

“They seemed fine,” she claimed.

The relative said she doesn’t know who will be responsible for raising them now.

“The kids are doing good, they’re eating,” she said. “They’re a little sad, they’re happy to know that they still got family.”

She said she was surprised by the turn of events.

“Everybody’s in shock,” she said. “Michael has worked with children before and he never showed any violence toward them.”

She did not specify the capacity in which Ramos had worked with kids before.

“People in the neighborhood are in disbelief about this,” she said.

The relative could not explain the disturbing account outlined in the criminal complaint. On several occasions, the girl told police, Ramos would hold the pistol to the children’s heads and say, “Someone is going to die today. Do you want to die today? Open your mouth.”

If the kids refused to open their mouths, Ramos would pistol-whip them in the head, Castulo said in his account.

Other times, Ramos would club them with a wooden bat, a metal bat and a black tension rod or he would whip them with an extension cord, according to court records.

Once, Ramos rubbed his hands with A+D ointment, sometimes used for diaper rash, then pulled on black motorcycle gloves and punched the children in the head and body, prosecutors said.

The girl told cops that the suspect stabbed her and the boy with a fork in the face and in the knees, causing puncture wounds that would bleed. Ramos also cut and scraped the teen girl’s face with a samurai sword, she told police.

A pediatrician who examined the children also found evidence that they had likely been beaten with an electrical cord and a belt.

Ramos is charged with acting in a manner injurious to a child, causing serious injury with a weapon, reckless behavior, criminal possession of a weapon and 18 counts of assault. He was remanded without bail.”

After Bronx foster kids, 13 and 14, found tortured, family of caregiver stunned at severe abuse: ‘Everybody’s in shock’
[Yahoo News 4/20/23 by Ellen Moynihan, Janon Fisher, Rocco Parascandola, Leonard Greene]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“A Bronx man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a slew of charges against him relating to a case of two abused foster children in his apartment.

Michael Ramos currently faces several counts of kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child. Neighbors at Eastchester Gardens, where Ramos lived, say they were not aware of the alleged abuse taking place in his third-floor apartment.

In April, police discovered the case after responding to the apartment for a call of a disturbance. Law enforcement officials say Ramos kept a 14-year-old girl and her 12-year-old brother captive for months, starting after Ramos’ mother, who was the foster parent of the two kids, passed away.

Police say Ramos repeatedly beat the children with a wooden bat and with an electrical cord. The two children also endured numerous cuts across their bodies from a sword, according to authorities.

Ramos is also accused of using a fork to puncture one of the two kids’ cheeks, and that Ramos also repeatedly held a loaded gun to their heads as a threat.

The defendant is currently being held without bail, and is due back in court on August 16.”

Bronx man pleads not guilty of abusing two foster care children in his apartment
[News 12 5/16/23]