'Spiritual Cleansing' Rape Case: Suspect's Attorney Says Client Didn't Attack Anyone

By PAUL ANDERSON
City News Service

A 39-year-old man promised a bizarre "spiritual cleansing" ritual before raping two women on separate occasions in a Santa Ana motel, a prosecutor told jurors today, but the defendant's attorney said her client did not attack anyone.

Alberto Flores Ramirez of San Clemente is "a fraud, a manipulator, and worst of all he's a rapist," Deputy District Attorney Whitney Bokosky said in her opening statement.

Ramirez met one of the alleged victims on the Badoo social networking site, Bokosky said. The woman had come to the United States in 2011 on a travel visa and was living in Simi Valley, the prosecutor said.

The woman's two daughters, who were born in the United States, were living in Mexico and the father would not allow them to come to the United States, Bokosky said.

Ramirez told her that he had a "spiritual cleansing ritual" that would help her "get rid of bad vibes" and reunite her with her daughters, the prosecutor said.

"She was trying to find a way to have her daughters live with her here," Bokosky said. "She's desperate to try anything to get her daughters back."

The two arranged to meet in Santa Ana on April 3, 2012, at a 99-cent store to pick up eggs and other items to be used in the ritual, the prosecutor said. They dined at a McDonald's and then drove to the Aloha Motel in Santa Ana, she said.

Ramirez rubbed eggs on the woman and used photos of the daughters in the ritual, but he told her it was not working and that she would have to strip down to her underwear, Bokosky said.

Ramirez then began "fondling" the woman, and when she began resisting, the two got into a physical struggle until he grabbed her by the neck and told her that "something really bad will happen" if she did not capitulate, Bokosky alleged.

Ramirez apologized after raping the woman, saying he was "overcome by her beauty," the prosecutor alleged. The defendant then gave the woman "gas money" and directions home, and she immediately called 911 when he was out of sight, Bokosky said.

Investigators linked Ramirez to the sexual assault with DNA evidence in the motel room, Bokosky said. Jurors will also hear a "covert call" the accuser made to the defendant on behalf of investigators, the prosecutor said.

Publicity about the case on an ABC News affiliate in Las Vegas prompted another woman to accuse Ramirez of raping her during a "cleansing ritual" at the same motel, Bokosky said. That accuser told investigators the two met through Facebook, she said.

"She had bad luck with men," Bokosky said, "so Mr. Ramirez, being the healer that he is, offered to cleanse her free of charge."

Ramirez instructed the woman to meet with him in Santa Ana alone, but she brought along a friend, who was told to wait outside the Aloha Motel room in February 2012, the prosecutor said.

Ramirez told the woman to strip before he put eggs, water and ammonia on her "to the point she becomes dizzy and disoriented from the smell," Bokosky said.

"When she wakes up, the defendant is on top of her," sexually assaulting her, Bokosky alleged.

Ramirez "apologized" to the woman before they parted, the prosecutor said.

"She leaves the motel room very confused," Bokosky said, adding the woman was too "ashamed and embarrassed" to tell her friend what happened.

Ramirez's attorney, Angela Kung of the Orange County Public Defender's Office, said much of the facts of the case are not in dispute, but there are "no witnesses" and "no physical evidence" to prove the rape claims.

The woman who met Ramirez through the Badoo site did not have any injuries other than some "redness and bruising" on her wrist when physicians examined her for signs of rape, Kung said.

"There's no injury, no scarring, no bleeding, no bruising and no tearing," Kung said, adding there were no marks on her neck either.

Ramirez told police he "honored" the woman's request to abstain from sex, but that she agreed to masturbate him, Kung said.

"The ultimate question is going to be what happened in that room," she said. "You can make that decision."

Kung suggested the second woman got details of the first woman's claim from the TV news report.

"After you hear all the evidence," Kung said, "I think you're going to have some doubts."

Ramirez is charged with two counts each of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation and single counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object by force and attempted forcible oral copulation, along with a sentence- enhancing allegation of committing sex crimes against multiple victims.

He faces up to 75 years to life in prison if convicted.