A man accused of raping two women near Charlotte’s South End could spend up to 24 years in jail. A jury found him guilty in a 2019 rape case after a two-week trial and two-day deliberation, the District Attorney’s Office wrote in a news release Wednesday.
The Mecklenburg County jury convicted Rogelio Ramirez, 32, of second-degree rape and second-degree sex offense. Police also charged him with second-degree kidnapping, but the jury did not find him guilty, according to the DA’s office. Ramirez was found not guilty in a second case — a rape that was reported, according to police, as happening the night prior.
After being released from prison in 12 to 24 years, he must register as a sex offender for 30 years.
After an Uber dropped one woman off at her home in December 2019, she encountered Ramirez and woke up to him raping her in her apartment, according to the DA’s office. She lost consciousness and woke up in the hospital as nurses performed a sexual assault exam.
Ramirez was eating a Waffle House breakfast he’d bought with her credit card after using it to fill up on gas.
The transactions allowed police to find Ramirez through videos and vehicle information, according to the DA’s office. His DNA matched the DNA found during the victim’s sexual assault exam, and his car housed her belongings — along with another victim’s.
Police contacted the second woman, who said Ramirez sexually assaulted her after she mistook his car for an Uber, according to the DA’s office. She said she lost consciousness and woke up to Ramirez sexually assaulting her. She did not call police after she fought him off and fled the car, she said, because she was embarrassed.
The jury did not convict Ramirez of the charges related to her case.
In 2019, when Ramirez was arrested in the two South End assaults, CMPD Capt. Rob Dance described him a predator.
“There is nothing that gives individuals like this the right to do what he has done,” he said.
The DA’s office thanked both Ramirez’s survivors for their bravery, strength and willingness to stand up and protect the entire community.