A high school science teacher arrested July 6 on charges of sexual misconduct with a student has avoided having his bail doubled to $1 million, but he has been required to provide a DNA sample and surrender his passport to the Benson Police Department.
And while the parties argued over those issues during a July 26 emergency hearing, new facts were made public about how Charles Alfred Ramsey came under investigation and about the existence of videos that recorded the sexual abuse inside his Benson High School classroom.
Public records show an investigation was initiated June 21 by the Benson Police Department after the mother of a 15-year-old student reported that her daughter had been sexually assaulted by Ramsey. In less than two hours, a police detective was assigned to the case and an in-depth investigation was initiated.
The records show the sexual abuse appears to have occurred between December 2022 and May 2023, both before and after school hours. Ramsey, 65, reportedly gave the girl jewelry, perfume, and gift cards to facilitate the sexual activity.
Eventually the student recorded some of the incidents. The videos were found during a search of the girl’s cellphone, as were various communications with Ramsey under the contact name “Papa Smurf.”
Ramsey was arrested July 6 based on probable cause of two charges related to sexual misconduct with a minor. Bail was set by a justice of the peace at $500,000 during Ramsey’s initial court appearance on July 7. A few hours later, the prosecutor, Terisha Driggs of the Cochise County Attorney’s Office, filed formal charges against Ramsey, bringing the total felony count to seven.
Ramsey posted bond later that day to secure his pretrial release. Among his condition of release are to have no contact with the named victim and to attend all court hearings.
He was also ordered by the justice of the peace to provide a DNA sample at the Cochise County jail. For unknown reasons this was not done, and Ramsey did not pursue the matter.
On July 13, the fifth day after Ramsey’s release, Driggs took the Benson PD investigation to a Cochise County grand jury. The grand jurors returned an indictment for the same seven felonies already filed against Ramsey.
One issue the grand jury was aware of it that Ramsey had not yet complied with the DNA sample order, which prompted Driggs to seek a grand jury arrest warrant instead of allowing Ramsey to appear voluntarily for arraignment. She also asked that bail be doubled to $1 million.
The arrest warrant and bail increase triggered an emergency motion from Ramsey’s defense team, which argued there was “no basis “ for seeking Ramsey’s arrest instead of issuing a summons. The defense attorneys, Joshua Hamilton and Clay Hernandez, also challenged the substantial increase in bail sought by Driggs.
“The current bond of $500,000 is an extremely high amount and is far more than sufficient to ensure Mr. Ramsey’s future court appearances while keeping with constitutional prohibitions against excessive, unreasonably high bonds,” they wrote, suggesting the increase was “nothing more than a thinly veiled effort to increase the bond amount to a figure that Mr. Ramsey cannot afford.”
Judge Joel Larson of the Cochise County Superior Court conducted the July 26 hearing to address the warrant, the bail increase, and the DNA order.
Driggs argued that Ramsey’s noncompliance with the DNA order was just one reason an arrest warrant was requested instead of merely sending Ramsey a notice to appear for arraignment.
The prosecutor also offered to show Larson a video she said demonstrated the seriousness of the sexual abuse charges. She also argued it reflected why Ramsey is a flight risk given the decades he faces in prison if convicted of all counts.
Driggs also pointed to new information gathered after Ramsey’s arrest which she argued supports $1 million bail.
This included allegations Ramsey took steps to block his classroom door when alone with the student, that he instructed her to delete their messages, that he encouraged the minor to send him sexually explicit images, and that he discussed his desire to engage in bondage and other sex acts.
The judge declined to watch the video, in part due to objections raised by Ramsey’s attorneys that they had seen it yet. In the end, Larson left the bail amount as is and he quashed the arrest warrant.
However, the judge imposed deadlines for Ramsey to comply with providing a DNA sample that same day at the Benson Police Department. Larson also ordered Ramsey to surrender his passport at the same time.
Ramsey was arraigned at the conclusion of the emergency hearing. He will return to court this fall for his next hearing. No trial date has been set.