SANTA ANA, Calif. – A former Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy has been charged with showing four teenage girls pornographic and other graphic videos while working as a school resource officer at Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo.
Justin Raymond Ramirez, 34, of Anaheim, has been charged with one misdemeanor count of distributing harmful material to a minor. He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 7, 2023 at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach in Department H8.
Ramirez faces a maximum sentence of 364 days in the Orange County Jail if convicted. Ramirez voluntarily resigned from the Sheriff’s Department.
On September 2, 2022, Ramirez was assigned as a school resource officer at Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo. Ramirez is accused of showing two teenage girls who approached him in his Sheriff’s Department patrol car at lunch a pornographic video that included a woman being stabbed to death. He is also accused of showing the girls a video that included graphic drug use.
The girls called two other female students over to Ramirez’ patrol car and Ramirez is accused of showing all four students, who were between 15 and 16 years old, the graphic videos.
A mother of one of the students called the Sheriff’s Department after her daughter told her about the deputy showing her the graphic videos. The Sheriff’s Department investigated the incident and referred it to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office for potential criminal charges.
“School resource officers are in our children’s schools to ensure a safe learning environment and help build trust between law enforcement and our community,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Ramirez had no business being in a position of trust around children – and he abused that position of trust in a truly disgusting way. Thankfully, the Sheriff’s Department took swift action to investigate this criminal behavior and refer it to our office so that we can properly prosecute this deputy.”
Deputy District Attorney Matt Bradbury of Special Prosecutions is prosecuting this case
