A Rio Grande man accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl was ordered held in jail this week.
Jonathan Ramos-Gonzalez, 20, allegedly had a sexual relationship with the girl while he was staying with her family in Wildwood.
The abuse was discovered after the girl's mother saw a naked picture Ramos-Gonzalez allegedly sent to the girl via Snapchat.
The victim’s mother took the phone and saw conversations between her daughter and Ramos-Gonzalez that not only included pictures of his genitals, but discussions about sex between the two, Cape May County Assistant Prosecutor Julie Mazur told the judge Wednesday.
The woman called police, who came to the home and viewed the conversations, Mazur said.
But as the officer looked at the messages, they started to disappear, Mazur said body camera footage shows.
It is believed that the girl alerted Ramos-Gonzalez who then deleted his account, which would make the messages disappear.
The girl told police that she believed Ramos-Gonzalez probably sent the picture to her by accident.
But the text “make it clear they were in constant communication and this was not an inadvertent picture sent to her,” Mazur said.
There was also a message where the defendant asks for the phone number of one of the girl’s friends, according to the state.
Ramos-Gonzalez was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, showing obscene material to a person younger than 18 and lewdness.
But when mother and daughter returned home from the police station, the girl admitted that she had sexual intercourse with the man, Mazur said.
The mother took that information back to police, who then charged Ramos-Gonzalez with three more counts, including aggravated sexual assault.
“It’s clear (the victim) doesn’t want to get this defendant in trouble but does disclose in detail the sexual relationship that they had,” Mazur said.
Ramos-Gonzalez, who had been on Drug Court for about a year when he was arrested, will now remain in the Cape May County jail.
