A relative of a man accused of abusing two foster kids in his Bronx apartment voiced shock at revelations the youths had been locked away for months at the home, where they were whipped, stabbed and tortured.
The 13-year-old boy and the 14-year-old girl were recently rescued from their domestic torture chamber in a tale of abuse told in court documents.
Police arrested Michael Ramos, 34, at his Burke Ave. apartment after responding to a call of a domestic disturbance at the home, where cops uncovered a shocking house of horrors.
The children were discovered Monday bruised and emaciated after being held captive since January — a months-long hell in which they were whipped, stabbed and tortured by the biological son of their deceased adoptive mother — according to authorities.
The first indication that something was amiss at the home was an unregistered Ruger 9-mm. pistol with the registration scratched off lying on the dining room table, according to police.
The weapon had a live round in the chamber, ready to fire, and 16 more bullets in the magazine, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Bronx District Attorney’s office.
The 13-year-old boy inside the apartment appeared gaunt, with swollen eyes and bruises on his body, according to an affidavit by Officer Kelby Castulo, who responded to the address
The 14-year-old girl, who was also found inside the unit, told police that the children had not been allowed to leave since January.
Prosecutors said their adoptive mother died in December of unknown causes and that the kids fell into the custody of Ramos, who would repeatedly beat and threaten them. He kept them in a room with a lock that could only be opened from the outside, according to court papers.
A relative of Ramos disputed some of the details in the court record.
She said the foster mother, Carmen Chardon, actually died three years ago. She added that the children had not been locked away for months.
“People have seen the kids since January,” said the relative, who did not want to be named.
She said she saw the children “recently in the past month”.
“They seemed fine,” she claimed.
The relative said she doesn’t know who will be responsible for raising them now.
“The kids are doing good, they’re eating,” she said. “They’re a little sad, they’re happy to know that they still got family.”
She said she was surprised by the turn of events.
“Everybody’s in shock,” she said. “Michael has worked with children before and he never showed any violence toward them.”
She did not specify the capacity in which Ramos had worked with kids before.
“People in the neighborhood are in disbelief about this,” she said.
The relative could not explain the disturbing account outlined in the criminal complaint. On several occasions, the girl told police, Ramos would hold the pistol to their heads and say, “Someone is going to die today. Do you want to die today? Open your mouth.”
If the kids refused to open their mouths, Ramos would pistol whip them in the head, Castulo said in his account.
Other times, Ramos would club them with a wooden bat, a metal bat and a black tension rod or he would whip them with an extension cord, according to court records.
Once Ramos rubbed his hands with A+D ointment, sometimes used for diaper rash, then pulled on black motorcycle gloves and punched the children in the head and body, prosecutors said.
The girl told cops that the suspect stabbed her and the boy with a fork in the face and in the knees, causing puncture wounds that would bleed. Ramos also cut and scraped the teen girl’s face with a samurai sword, she told police.
A pediatrician who examined them also found evidence that they had likely been beaten with an electrical cord and a belt.
Ramos was arrested and charged with child endangerment, unlawful imprisonment, assault and several counts of criminal possession of a weapon. He was remanded without bail.