Crime & Safety
ICYMI: Brooklyn CVS Employee Sexually Assaulted Customers In Back Room, Police Say
Jose Ramos was arrested and charged with forcible touching, coercion and sex abuse.
KENSINGTON, BROOKLYN — An employee at a CVS in Kensington was arrested for falsely accusing customers of shoplifting and then sexually assaulting them in a back room at the store, the NYPD confirmed to Patch.
Jose Ramos, 29, worked as a "loss prevention agent" at the store at 411 Ditmas Ave., between East Fifth and East Fourth streets. On March 15, he accused a woman of shoplifting and ordered her to come to a back room, police said.
Once in the room, he forced her to strip naked so he could take photos of her and touch her genitals, according to police.
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He also made the woman sign a note that said he could sue her if she went to the police, authorities said. The woman filed a police report anyway, and an NYPD investigation started, police said.
Ramos turned himself in to Brooklyn Special Victims detectives on Monday, according to police. He admitted to the incident, police said, and three similar notes from other women were founding in his backpack.
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He was charged with forcible touching, coercion and sex abuse and was expected to be arraigned Tuesday, according to the NYPD. Authorities are looking for other possible victims, police said.
Ramos' alleged crimes were first detailed in a report from PIX 11. The NYPD confirmed to Patch that the report was true.
A CVS spokesman told Patch that Ramos had been "terminated" from the company.
"The alleged actions of Mr. Ramos are a gross violation of CVS Pharmacy’s policies and wholly contrary to our values," a CVS statement said.
"We also sincerely apologize to the victims in this matter and we are cooperating fully with the NYPD’s Special Victims Division in their investigation.
"CVS has stringent policies and procedures to ensure that suspected shoplifters are treated lawfully and with respect. Employees are not permitted to detain suspects unless they are accompanied by another colleague of the same gender as the suspect."
Editor's note: This story was originally published on Tuesday, April 25
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