Novato cop pleads no contest to charges including stalking, sending obscene material to a minor
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (BCN) - A Novato police officer who was arrested for receiving obscene material depicting a minor in Texas engaging in a sex act pleaded no contest Tuesday to felony stalking and misdemeanor sending of obscene material to a minor.
Michael Manuel Ramirez, 35, of Rohnert Park, will be sentenced Oct. 17 in Sonoma County Superior Court to three years' probation and 90 days in the Sonoma County Jail as part of his plea agreement.
He was charged on Dec. 29 with felony possession or control of obscene matter depicting a minor under 18 engaging in a sex act, felony use of a minor under 18 to assist or perform sexual conduct and misdemeanor annoying or molesting a minor under age 18.
Those charges will be dismissed at sentencing, Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Robert Waner said.
Ramirez also will have to participate in a three-year intensive outpatient treatment program for sex offenders, Waner said.
Ramirez, a member of the Novato Police Department for six years, received messages containing pornographic images by smartphone with a Texas girl under age 13 for several months in early 2015, Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety Sgt. Jeff Justice said.
Texas authorities, who pretended to be the girl after her mother discovered the images, traced the recipient to a Rohnert Park internet address, Justice said.
Rohnert Park detectives then were contacted in April by a computer crimes task force in Texas, Justice said.
Rohnert Park police took Ramirez's computer and phone at his residence in May and continued the investigation before presenting the case to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office, Justice said.
Ramirez has been on paid administrative leave during the court proceedings.