"committed suicide by firing two bullets into his mouth" - WTF?

loose passive · #1 10-31-2006, 02:28 AM

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SAN FRANCISCO
Cop accused of sex with 14-year-old apparently commits suicide
- Chronicle Staff and Wire Reports
Monday, October 30, 2006

(10-30) 22:15 PST -- A San Francisco police officer who had been arrested for alleged sexual abuse and "debauchery'' in Cambodia related to a 14-year-old girl there has apparently committed suicide in his jail cell, authorities said Monday.

Officer Donald Rene Ramirez, 50, a 25-year veteran, "committed suicide by firing two bullets into his mouth," said Keo Thea, chief of antihuman trafficking police in Phnom Penh.

Ramirez was arrested Thursday in Phnom Penh by Cambodian authorities, officials said. He was assigned to the police traffic detail and was on vacation at the time, authorities said.

San Francisco police officials had no comment on the matter.

Ramirez could have faced federal charges in the United States under the sex tourism law, which makes it a crime to arrange a meeting in another country with a minor for the purpose of a sexual encounter.

Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had told The Chronicle before Ramirez's death that her agency was "working with the ICE office in Bangkok to determine what, if any, further enforcement action is necessary.''

Ngeth Sarath, a prosecutor in Phnom Penh, said Ramirez was charged Sunday with debauchery for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old ethnic Vietnamese girl.

Following the reports of Ramirez's death, reporters in Phnom Penh were not allowed into the police station to verify the official account, and it was unclear exactly how Ramirez shot himself, including how he would have fired twice.

The death is under investigation by both Cambodian and U.S. officials.

Keo Thea told reporters in Cambodia that Ramirez killed himself after a police guard left to use the bathroom. Ramirez allegedly used a broom to pull a gun from under a woven mat to his cell.

Police arrested Ramirez at his rented apartment Thursday, said Keo Thea. Ramirez was seen bringing the girl into his apartment, Sarath said. He said Ramirez had denied doing anything wrong.

"He is a policeman, so it is not easy for us to get him to talk," Sarath said earlier.

He said police had also arrested the girl's mother on charges of providing the girl to Ramirez.

Under Cambodian law, debauchery is a term for sexual offenses against minors. The offense can be punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison.

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