Mom of 4
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WEST CHESTER TWP. — A 24-year-old West Chester Twp. man is behind bars in Hamilton County on a $50,000 bond after Springdale police said he admitted to fathering a child with a 12-year-old girl.
Springdale police Lt. Mike Mathis said José Vazquez-Ramirez was arrested Thursday, May 1, and charged with two counts of rape. Mathis said the case came to the department's attention in mid-March after Hamilton County Job and Family Services' children's services department alerted them to the baby boy's birth. Vazquez-Ramirez had signed the birth certificate as the father.
"Essentially, what we had to do was talk with everyone to gather the evidence needed, not just to issue a warrant but also to prosecute the case," said Mathis.
Ramirez was arrested by Springdale police without incident Thursday night. Hamilton county clerk officials said he pleaded not guilty to both rape counts at an arraignment Friday, May 2, and is being held on $25,000 bond for each count. He is scheduled for a May 12 preliminary hearing in Cincinnati.
Mathis said the teen mother and her family have custody of the baby, though children's services is monitoring the situation.
"There's no allegations of abuse to the child," he said.
Although the girl indicated she consented to the sex, her age defined the charges against Vazquez-Ramirez.
"That's automatically considered rape," said Mathis.
http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/05/02/hjn050308vazquez.html