Adoptive father accused of keeping son locked in bedroom was Sheriff’s Office employee

By KVIA, Heriberto Perez

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    EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Update (June 18, 2025): ABC-7 obtained court documents today where police describe the abuse the 15-year-old said he endured since he was 5. These court documents also show what the 15-year-old boy told authorities about the conditions he was living in.

Police discovered the situation after someone reported it, leading officers to conduct a welfare check.

Court documents ABC-7 obtained today state that the boy informed that person he was not eating and was being locked in his room. The neighborhood where it occurred it’s in Far East El Paso.

The 15-year-old told police that at times his parents would not let him leave the bedroom to go to the bathroom. Documents also indicate he mentioned that at times he was not allowed to shower for about a week.

The teenager also stated that sometimes he wouldn’t have anything to drink for several days. Court documents reveal that his adoptive parents locked him in his room at night and let him out the next day whenever one of them woke up, which sometimes happened late in the day.

One of the parents admitted to locking the teenager in his room from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. at the latest. However, the boy told authorities he was being locked up at night, and the adoptive parents typically let him out later in the day.

The boy explained that the door could only be opened from the outside. When police arrived for the welfare check, officers reported seeing urine stains and smelling a strong odor of urine.

The fifteen-year-old stated that he was sometimes not allowed to go to the bathroom. On some days, he was also not permitted to shower.

He eventually managed to use money from one of his parents to buy a phone. He told police he contacted the person who later reported his living conditions. The boy also informed officers that he was frightened to return inside the house.

When the parents discovered he had the phone, they locked him up again, and he was not allowed to shower for about a week, nor did he have anything to drink for a couple of days.

The boy claimed both parents often told him: “what happens in the house, stays in the house.”

Officers transported the boy to the Advocacy Center for Children of El Paso (ACCEP) for a forensic interview.

The boy also expressed that even when he behaved, he still got locked up. However, when he misbehaved, he said he received physical punishment.

He even engaged in homeschooling from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., but one of his parents claimed that he was being homeschooled from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Even when he had no chores to do, he was still locked up.

Update (June 17, 2025): The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to ABC-7 that Richard Ramirez was an employee with the office. Richard and Nora Ramirez are accused of keeping their 15-year-old adoptive son in his room. El Paso Police have charged the pair with unlawful restraint.

When the office found out about the arrest, officials placed Ramirez on immediate administrative leave pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation. Yesterday, however, Richard Ramirez submitted “documentation to separate from the Sheriff’s Office.” That documentation was accepted yesterday.

A spokesperson for the office says that this is an ongoing matter and that no further comment will be provided at this time.

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — El Paso Police arrested Richard Ramirez, 51, and Nora Ramirez, 52, and charged them with the unlawful restraint of their 15-year-old adopted son.

Police officials say that the couple routinely neglected and confined the teen to his room. When officers got to the family’s house in Far East El Paso, the found the teen was often forced to use the restroom within his room. The child told officers that his parents routinely let him out of his room for dinner, then immediately returned him to his room. He told officers that this had been going on since he was about five years old.

“Due to the serious nature of the allegations, the case was referred to the Crimes Against Children Unit for further investigation,” police officials say. “The ongoing investigation led to the arrest of Richard and Nora Ramirez. Both individuals were taken into custody and booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility.”

The pair were booked on $100,000 bonds.

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