Convicted Rapist Ramirez Sentenced to 95 Years

A Costa Mesa man convicted of raping two women in 2008 and 2009, one of whom worked for him at First Class Cleaners in Fountain Valley, was sentenced Wednesday to a minimum of 95 years in state prison.

Jaime Zamora Ramirez, 42, sat silently as Superior Court Judge Kazuharo Makino handed down the sentence. Ramirez, whose sentence was doubled to the 95 years because of a prior conviction for vehicular manslaughter, will also be required to submit to mandatory AIDS testing, and will be placed on the lifetime sex offender registry.

Ramirez was convicted July 20 of raping a friend in her Anaheim home and, months later, sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl who worked for him at First Class Cleaners.

Ramirez's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Celia Laureles, had moved that several statements from police be stricken from the record and excluded from consideration in her client's sentencing, but Makino denied the motion and several similar ones.

"In a case like this, there is very little sentencing discretion," Makino said. "It would be absurd to tailor the sentence based on the opinions expressed by a police officer about the defendant."

Leticia "A.," originally identified as Jane Doe #2 in the case, and the victim who worked for Ramirez, testified at the sentencing and asked that Ramirez be appropriately punished for the damage he's caused in her life.

"I arrived in this county with a lot of dreams, but all that ended when Jaime abused me," she said through an interpreter. "It ended my dream of having a family. It's something that I'll never be able to overcome. He has to be where he deserves to be. I want him to pay for everything he did to me."