Woman accused of assaulting two local girls enters plea--while alleged victim's family speaks to KSBY

Posted: Apr 30, 2012 6:27 PM by Kathy Kuretich
Updated: Apr 30, 2012 6:56 PM

Family speaks out after attack at Paso Robles

The woman accused of assaulting two local girls, faces the charges against her, while the family of one of the alleged victims speaks out.
28-year-old Eliana Ramirez plead not guilty in court Monday.

She's been charged with attempted lewd conduct with a child, assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, false imprisonment, and two counts of annoying or molesting a child under the age of 18.

The family said they wanted to go public, because this has taken a huge toll on all of them, and to support the 10 and 11 year-old girls, the alleged victims in the case.

They said the alleged assault on the girls happened in a Paso Robles home, at a small gathering of six adults. They said Ramirez - the cousin of a guest - was acting strange... and after having a few drinks she entered an upstairs room where the 10 and 11 year-old girls where hanging out.
"She took their innocence from them," the grandmother said.

There, they said everything happened in just minutes, and Ramirez threatened them, became sexually vulgar, violent, broke a lamp, and used it as a weapon.

"She claimed that she was trying to teach a lesson, but you don't teach a lesson to people's children that you don't know. You don't teach by threats and of violence and removing their clothes," the grandmother said.

She said the girls screamed for help, and the adults heard the scream. The father of one of the girls says, he's proud of how they reacted.
"The girls did nothing wrong they did everything right, and I'm really happy they responded the way they did. This girl's (Ramirez) family is putting all kinds of things online making it seem that the girls are lying or that the girls are out to make her look guilty, when all we know about this girl is her name and what she did to them," said the father.

Ramirez's attorney will not go into specific details, but will say, she's remorseful.
"My client has entered a plea of not guilty. She definitely intended no harm towards those children. She expressed her remorse to the police and understands why the grandmother feels as she does. She absolutely would never intentionally hurt a child," said attorney Thomas Worthington.

Worthington also said, Ramirez called police several times, once she knew they were investigating.

The family said, the girls were terrified after the incident.
Ramirez is from Greenfield, California, northwest of King City.
She 's currently out on $100-thousand dollars bail.