WASHINGTON — Charges of sexual abuse against a former Montgomery County after-school program counselor were dropped Thursday.
Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for the State’s Attorney’s Office, said in a statement emailed to WTOP on Sunday that “there was not enough evidence to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, so the prosecutor handling the case dropped the charges.”
Raul Ramos, 21, told The Washington Post that he knew he was innocent from the start. He took a polygraph test administered by a firm hired by his attorney and the results showed no deception. His attorney passed along the results to the prosecutors. Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Inderfurth said in her remarks that the state will enter a Nolle prosequi, a formal notice of abandonment.
Silver Spring resident Ramos was arrested last November when Child Protective Services notified Montgomery County police that between Aug. 29 and Oct. 31, Ramos inappropriately touched a 5-year-old girl at the “Kids After Hours” program at Flower Valley Elementary School in Rockville, where Ramos worked for two years.
Ramos was placed on administrative leave and eventually dismissed when he was arrested. Bob Sickels, the owner of the after-school program, told The Washington Post that terminating Ramos was not something he did happily and that more than 100 parents thought Ramos was innocent.
WTOP’s Mike Murillo contributed to this report.
