A 38-year-old man from the Holiday Villages neighborhood near Point Blank in San Jacinto County pleaded guilty to Online Solicitation of a Minor and was sentenced to 25 years in prison this week.
According to San Jacinto County Assistant District Attorney Rob Freyer, the defendant, Julius Ramon, worked as a handyman in his community and came into contact with a couple of underage children to whom he sent photos of his genitalia.
The mom of one of the victims – an 11-year-old boy – grew suspicious of the text message exchanges between her son and Ramon, and found photos that had been sent to and from her son’s phone. She and her son made a public outcry to investigators with the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office.
Another child in the same community also received the same type of inappropriate text messages from Ramon, said Freyer, but the victim and his family did not want to pursue charges.
By agreeing to the plea deal with Ramon, the DA’s office was able to avoid putting the young victim on the witness stand.
“The child never even had to come to court, which we feel is a win for him,” said Freyer. “His grandmother appeared at the plea sentencing and gave a victim’s impact statement on behalf of their family.”
Ramon was indicted on the charge in December 2023, and is now heading to prison to begin his 25-year prison sentence. Freyer is pleased that the victim and his family were able to get swift justice in the case.
Freyer complimented Sgt. Montalvo and Detective Omar Sheikh with the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office for conducting a thorough investigation, which also involved getting Ramon to confess to his crimes.
According to Freyer, Ramon’s criminal history includes sentences for Alien Smuggling and Manufacture or Delivery of a Controlled Substance.
Ramon went to federal prison in 2012 in the Western District of Texas for Conspiracy With Intent to Distribute Marijuana and served 54 months. In 2014, he was imprisoned for 10 months for Transporting an Alien within the US, and in 2016, he was sentenced to 60 months for another marijuana conspiracy charge.
He also had numerous arrests in Zapata County from 2007 to 2014, though most of these cases were dismissed.