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In exchange for his guilty plea, Frank Castro-Ramirez, 40, is expected to be sentenced to 10 years in state prison, 8½ years of which he must serve before becoming eligible for parole, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes said.
He has also surrendered his job, will remain on lifetime parole and must register as a Megan's Law sex offender under the terms of the plea deal with Valdes’s staff.
Clifton police notified detectives with the prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit of the allegations against Castro-Ramirez exactly a year ago this weekend.
Prosecutor's detectives interviewed several witnesses along with the victim, who “reported being sexually abused by Mr. Castro-Ramirez on numerous occasions at the child’s home in Clifton between May 2019 and April 2021,” Valdes said.
The girl was 14 to 16 years old at the time of the assaults, according to court papers. Questioned by investigators, she accurately described a tattoo on Castro-Ramirez's groin, records show.
Castro-Ramirez, who became a Clifton officer in 2013. He has remained in custody – first in the Passaic County Jail and, more recently, the Bergen County Jail -- since then, records show.
Senior Assistant Passaic County Prosecutor Alyssa DiSturco secured an indictment charging Castro-Ramirez with two counts each of aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated sexual contact and child endangerment.
He could have faced up to 20 years if convicted of aggravated sexual assault, up to 10 years each for sexual assault and up to five years for aggravated criminal sexual contact.
Rather than risk the outcome, Castro-Ramirez took a deal from prosecutors.
He pleaded Wednesday to first-degree aggravated assault, for which he’ll be sentenced by Superior Court Justine A. Niccollai on Aug. 15.
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