A Queens martial arts teacher has been accused of sexually abusing four of his young female students.
According to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, Lorenzo Ramos, while working as an instructor at United Taekwondo in Corona, forcibly touched and sexually assaulted the victims on multiple occasions between May 2015 and February 2016.
“These are serious allegations. As a martial arts instructor the defendant was supposed to train his students to protect themselves from unwanted advances. Instead he is accused of taking advantage of his teaching position to touch his students in inappropriate ways,” Brown said.
The victims include two 12-year-old girls and two 14-year-old girls, the district attorney said.
It is alleged that Ramos approached the girls individually and touched them inappropriately — hugging them, grabbing their breasts and squeezing their buttocks.
Ramos is also accused of offering or providing money to the victims, and at one point allegedly told one of the 14-year-old girls “Don’t say anything because both of us will be killed,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Brown said the victims came forward and told the owners of the martial arts studio after talking among themselves. When Ramos was terminated one of the victims told her mother, who alerted the police, the district attorney said.
Ramos, of Elmhurst, Queens, was arraigned on a long list of charges, including sexual abuse, attempted sexual abuse, forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child and harassment. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison and would be required to register as a sex offender with the state.
Ramos was held on $31,000 bail and is due back in court on April 1, the district attorney’s office said.
