An Orange man has pleaded guilty to five counts of crimes against children.
In January, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) regarding an individual in Orange County suspected of possessing sexual material involving a child. The suspect was identified as Ricardo Ramos-Espinoza, 21, of Orange. He was arrested and charged with nine counts of possession of child pornography second offense, one count of possession of child pornography and 10 counts of causing a child under 15 years old to perform in pornography. In June, he pleaded not guilty to all charges.
On Tuesday, Ramos-Espinoza entered into a plea agreement, pleading guilty to one count of possession of child pornography second offense, one count of possession of child pornography and three counts of causing a child younger than 15 to perform in pornography. For the first charge, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with five years suspended followed by five years of supervised probation. On the second possession charge, he was sentenced to five years in prison with all five suspended. On the first charge of causing a child to perform in pornography he was sentenced to 30 years in prison with 25 years suspended and five years supervised probation. He received 30 years in prison with all 30 suspended and five years of supervised probation on each of the remaining two charges. In total, Ramos-Espinoza will serve 10 years in a state penitentiary, followed by supervised probation and must be of good behavior for 30 years. He will also register as a sex offender.
The remaining charges were nol prossed.
