Jury Convicts Cathedral City Man For Raping Two Women

A Cathedral City man was convicted today of breaking into the homes of two women and sexually assaulting them.

Juan Pablo Ramos, 19, was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman on Jan. 24, 2009, at her residence on Avenue La Paz near Tortuga Road in Cathedral City, and raping another woman in October 2007.

He will face more than 100 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 22.

The eight-man, four-woman jury received the case Tuesday afternoon. The panel asked for read-back Wednesday of testimony from the victim in the 2007 attack.

Ramos was linked to the 2007 crime when a DNA sample was matched in the unsolved cold case, according to Deputy District Attorney Kristi Belcher. He was 16 when that crime was committed.

The woman in the 2009 attack testified that a man smashed through the sliding glass door of her home.

“He pretty much tackled me to the ground. He ripped off my nightgown and my underwear,” she testified, adding that he digitally penetrated her.

The woman said the man penetrated her a second time before she sprayed her attacker in the face with Mace, causing him to leave.

In the earlier assault, Ramos entered the victim’s home and allegedly raped the woman, who identified him as her attacker two years after the assault.

Ramos’ attorney, Michael DeFrank, has argued that his client had consensual sex with the woman in the 2007 case.

DeFrank also claimed that Ramos had no intention of sexually assaulting the second woman.