SAN DIEGO -- A former dental assistant accused of sexually assaulting 13 girls and women while they were under anesthesia in the University Heights dental office where he worked pleaded guilty Wednesday at the San Diego County Courthouse as part of a plea deal.
Luis Ramos, 36, pleaded guilty to 13 of 30 charges: nine counts of sexual battery, one count of forcible sexual penetration, one count of attempted forcible sexual penetration, all felonies, and two count of misdemeanor sexual battery. Under the plea deal, he faces up to 15 years in prison and may have to register as a sex offender. He was in court for what was supposed to be a preliminary hearing to determine whether he should go to trial. Ramos was accused of molesting female victims ranging in age from 17 to 62 from January 2015 through January of this year.
At his arraignment, Deputy District Attorney Martin Doyle said detectives sifted through 500 hours of surveillance video from Park Boulevard Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery to see if they could find evidence of females being molested after the case involving the 17-year-old girl was discovered, and a number of calls subsequently came into the San Diego Police Department.
In the initial case, Doyle alleged that Ramos molested the girl -- touching her breasts and putting his face in her chest -- for about seven minutes while he was alone with the teen at the surgical office on Jan. 21.
Ramos had worked for the surgical office for three years, Doyle said.
