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By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 22-year-old Centralia man arrested this summer for alleged events at a party two years ago has been found not guilty of rape.
Edgar Ramirez-Dado was acquitted of second-degree rape and third-degree rape by a jury in Lewis County Superior Court following a three-day trial.
Ramirez-Dado was arrested on June 5 outside the Apex market on the 400 block of West Main Street in Centralia for allegedly planning to sell a little baggie of weed to two boys, ages 16 and 14, according to court documents. He was taken into custody also for an outstanding warrant issued late last year when a charge of second-degree rape was filed in a case investigated by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
Charging documents indicated a sheriff’s deputy met with a 26-year-old woman in mid-December 2015 when she described a party the night before with a lot of people in which she and her friend consumed a large amount of alcohol.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Melissa Bohm wrote in charging documents the alleged victim recalled Ramirez-Dado pulling her panties off from beneath her dress and her telling him no and to stop, but she was too weak and drunk to push him away, and that she was raped.
Ramirez-Dado was initially held on $100,000 and $50,000 bail for the two cases, but court documents show his conditions of release were later lowered to an unsecured bond.
The rape trial began on Nov. 6, a Monday, and ended two days later. An amended information filed corrected the alleged victim’s age at the time of the incident to 17.
The jury deliberated a little more than two hours before reaching a verdict of not guilty.
His other case has not concluded. In that case, he was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and involving a minor in drug dealing.
That arrest came about when a school resource officer alerted a Centralia drug detective about an arrangement to buy $10 worth of marijuana made through a messaging app on a Centralia Middle School-issued iPad. Detectives followed a boy to the convenience store, where they found Ramirez-Dado.
Ramirez-Dado has pleaded not guilty.
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For background, read “Chehalis man picked up on $100,000 warrant for alleged sexual assault” from Tuesday June 6, 2017, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter