Idaho teacher accused of inappropriately touching students faces more charges
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Idaho teacher Juvent Josue Ramirez now faces five charges involving three students.
- Prosecutors filed three new misdemeanor battery charges involving two teenage students.
- A judge declined to merge the cases but may reconsider at an upcoming hearing.
An Idaho teacher who was accused of sexually assaulting one of his students could now face a second jury trial after prosecutors filed new charges against him for inappropriately touching two other teenage students.
The Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office formally charged Juvent Josue Ramirez — who taught at Canyon-Owyhee School Service Agency in Wilder — with three misdemeanor counts of battery after disclosing in April that it planned to file additional charges against the 34-year-old.
Ramirez taught business at the public school cooperative, which provides programs for special education, alternative and career technical students, according to the school’s website. The school, Canyon-Owyhee School Service Agency Regional Technical Education Center, is located off of Penny Lane in Wilder.
He already faced two felony counts of sexual battery of a minor child after another one of his students, who was 17 at the time, informed the school’s principal in February that Ramirez touched her inappropriately, triggering an investigation by the Wilder Police Department.
A week after he was arrested, two other female students met with the Wilder Police Department about their interactions with Ramirez. The two teens, a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old, disclosed incidents whenRamirez had touched them, according to court filings.
One of the students, the 17-year-old, recalled a time when he stood so close to her that he had his body pressed against her, and the 19-year-old said Ramirez would call her “cute” and “pretty” and detailed a parent-teacher conference when he grabbed her leg and squeezed, the records showed.
Once he was arrested, the 19-year-old said she started to reflect on their interactions and realized that “teachers shouldn’t act like Mr. Ramirez” did toward his students, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Prosecutor asks judge to combine cases against Idaho teacher
Instead of filing the charges against Ramirez in another criminal case, Canyon County Deputy Prosecutor Kyra Venecia asked the presiding judge, Thomas Whitney, in April to add the three counts of battery to Ramirez’s ongoing criminal case. Whitney, the administrative judge for the 3rd Judicial District, said he didn’t have the legal authority to amend Ramirez’s case and add the charges.
Under state law, prosecutors can amend charges against someone without permission from the judge before the defendant pleads. Ramirez had already pleaded not guilty to the initial felony counts. After a plea, it’s up to the presiding judge to determine whether the new charges could be added as a related offense, without affecting the defendant’s rights.
“What you’re asking me to do is to allow you to make an amendment that adds three additional misdemeanor charges with two different victims,” Whitney said at a May hearing. “It seems like you’re asking me to take action that I’m just flat (out) not authorized to do by the rule.”
Instead, the prosecution can request to combine two separate cases. Whitney indicated at the hearing he’d reconsider the motion to join the offenses if the prosecution filed the additional charges, which they did in June.
Ramirez now faces a total of five charges and is expected to stand trial on the two felony counts in August, court records showed. The Prosecutor’s Office is scheduled to argue its motion to consolidate the two cases before Whitney on July 7.
