TOLEDO, Ohio — Parents and relatives of people who say they were assaulted by a local man spoke out Monday calling for the man's arrest.
Antonio Ramos is now a registered sex offender and is accused of multiple crimes including gross sexual imposition and assault after several jail stints.
But currently, he's a free man.
"I want this man off the street," said Debbie Shaughnessy, whose 27-year-old autistic son, Kurt Smith, was allegedly assaulted by Ramos in June. "He's gonna end up hurting somebody bad."
Ramos was tried and convicted for three counts of felony gross sexual imposition. The accusations stemmed from at least two separate encounters with minors: an 8-year-old and a 13-year-old.
Zanab Pendrey is the 8-year-old's aunt. She said Ramos befriended the family at church last summer, so much so that the boy's mother allowed Ramos to babysit for her.
"While they were alone, he would hurt my nephew," Pendrey said. "Touch him. Do things to him."
Facebook messages showed a similar instance, also last summer, between Ramos and a 13-year-old.
His mother, whose name we aren't sharing, told WTOL she discovered the exchange before anything else could happen.
"I had their Facebook Messenger downloaded to my phone," the mother said. "I had gotten up one morning and seen that there was some messages. I pulled it down and it was basically a conversation between Antonio Ramos and my son, but it had turned sexual."
Ramos was sentenced in April to community control and work release. The judge, Joseph McNamara of Lucas County Common Pleas Court, wrote that a non-prison sentence was adequate to protect the public.
"He's not supposed to be drinking or be on social media, you know, because of his probation and he's still doing it. He's still getting away with it," Pendrey said.
But just weeks ago, Ramos was arrested for assault. Police records said he punched and kicked Smith four times.
"He was beat from head to toe," Shaughnessy said. "I mean bruises from head to toe."
Now, all of these relatives are wondering why Ramos is still out in the community.
"He needs help," Pendrey said. "He does. He needs help and evidently he's not getting it."
WTOL reached out to Toledo Police for comment on Ramos, but a spokesman for the department declined the request.
WTOL also reached out to Judge Timothy Kuhlman at Toledo Municipal Court who released Ramos on a $2,500 bond for the assault charge. Kuhlman, in a phone call with WTOL Tuesday, explained the court uses a public safety assessment when releasing a person before trial, and Ramos met the standard to be released.
A call placed to Ramos' attorney, John McMahon, was not returned.
Ramos appeared in court Tuesday morning to begin his trial for assault, but the trial was continued so Ramos could hire a private attorney.