On Jan. 24, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed a felony case against an Auburn man it accuses of grabbing and groping a woman while she was jogging in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood on Jan. 20.
The charges against 18-year-old Gerardo Solis Ramirez are second-degree assault and fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation. His arraignment is set for 8:30 a.m. Feb. 7 in room E1201A of the King County Courthouse.
At Ramirez’s first appearance, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Emily Peterson argued that his actions make him a danger to the community, and asked the court to hold him on $50,000 bail.
“The defendant attacked the victim while she was out jogging, by jumping on her, and grabbing her chest and buttocks,” Peterson told the court. “While the defendant does not have any known criminal history, the brazen nature of the assault of a stranger in broad daylight is evidence that bail is appropriate to ensure he will not commit another assaultive offense.”
The judge set bail at $40,000, and Ramirez posted bond on that lower amount. He had posted bond before the case was sent to prosecutors for a charging decision.
Here is how the woman described the attack to Seattle Police, according to the SPD’s Certification for Determination of Probable Cause.
According to documents, the woman said she was jogging north with her small dog on her customary 1st Avenue South route, which she prefers because she feels safer with all the open businesses and people around.
According to documents, at one point the woman passed a man who was slowly walking in the same direction, but seconds later she felt the same man jump on her back, she said, “like a koala hugging a tree.” According to the documents, the woman felt one hand groping her chest and one hand on her buttocks — both over the clothes — and one leg wrapped around her body. She told police it felt like the man was trying to get his hand down the back of her pants, but her long shirt prevented him from doing that.
According to documents, when the man let go, the woman turned and screamed at him. She said his eyes were big, and he started to run away, and she chased him as she screamed for people to call 911. The chase ended when he got into a car and drove off, but not before the woman had taken down his license plate.
According to documents, at the request of Seattle Police, a King County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to the registered address for the vehicle and plate the woman had provided.
According to documents, when the deputy got there, he saw the car in the driveway and a man who matched the woman’s description sitting in it. According to documents, the deputy asked the man if he was Gerardo, and he said yes. According to documents, the deputy then asked Gerardo if he had been in Seattle that morning, and he said yes.
When the deputy asked what happened, according to documents, “Gerardo stated he ate some bad edibles and groped a woman. Gerardo then apologized.”
At that point, the deputy arrested Ramirez and drove him to the Seattle Police Department.
