Although the Brownwood area “Feels Like Home” and Early is over all a “safe community”…we all need to remember crime happens even in Brown County. Sexual predators are out there in every community. The following incident is a great reminder that we may not even notice sexual predators that are quietly lurking.
This weekend, Early Police were called to Heartland Mall. According to reports, store clerks at the mall and a mother of a young girl called 911 to report a man taking pictures and videotaping young girls in the mall.
When store clerks confronted the man about his photography and videotaping, the suspect reportedly ran out the front door. Clerks watch him as he ran through the parking lot across the Cisco highway towards Scott’s Western Wear. Officers Johnny Brown and Keith Varner were conducting a theft investigation at Scott’s Western wear. Timing couldn’t have been better…as the call was dispatched to them the suspect from the mall had just ran past Scott’s Western Wear.
Officer Johnny Brown located the suspect as he approached Early Blvd and stopped him on the side of the road. The suspect was identified as Joel Ramirez 50 year old of Brownwood. Girl’s earrings, a camera phone and a camera were found in Ramirez’s pockets. The suspect stated he was only taking pictures of the mall; however, the store clerks reported that he would hold the camera behind him and take pictures of young girls as they walked by or were shopping.
Officer Brown checked the camera and learned the camera also recorded video but the memory card from the camera was gone. Ramirez told Officer Brown that he just bought the camera and didn’t have the memory card. Ramirez was detained while officers searched the route that Ramirez had run between the mall and the location where he was stopped. The memory card was located in a drainage ditch between the mall and highway 183. Several items had been deleted from the memory card when it was reviewed.
Detective Jason Benefield with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office was contacted for assistance in retrieving the deleted data. Det. Benefield performed the data retrieval on the memory card and located where Ramirez had been videotaping young girls in the mall that afternoon. Most of the video was of young girls mid sections while shopping and walking in the mall. Ramirez was arrested and charged with Improper Photography or visual recording, a state jail felony and tampering with physical evidence a 3rd degree felony.
Chief David Mercer commented, “I would like to commend the store clerk and an observant mother who witnessed the event and called 911. I would also like to remind everyone to be aware of where your children are and who’s around them. The Early and Brownwood area is not immune from sexual predators.”
