A former Las Vegas police officer has been ordered to spend about a month in prison after reaching a plea deal over touching a woman inappropriately.
On Tuesday, Judge Eric Johnson sentenced Manuel Ramangmou to 30 days in jail, with one day credit for time served. The victim in the case provided an impact statement in August but did not attend Tuesday’s hearing.
Prosecutors had reached an arrangement under which Ramangmou would plead an Alford plea to a charge of oppression under color of power, a high misdemeanor. An Alford plea permits a defendant to accept a conviction without admitting guilt while still accepting that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to win a conviction at trial.
Ramangmou was accused of sexually touching a woman while responding to a vehicle welfare check on May 9.
According to a police report, a private security company requested cops when the woman, who was sleeping inside her van, did not reply to calls. Investigators said Ramangmou turned off his body camera before improperly touching the victim and thereafter communicated with her via text messaging. “My client was molested behind bushes by an officer,” Carl Arnold, the victim’s attorney, stated earlier this year. “She’s been in fear for her life the last two months when even a police car goes by.”
As part of his plea agreement, Ramangmou agreed to retire from the LVMPD.
His attorney again requested probation, saying Johnson on Tuesday that a jail term includes segregation, which means Ramangmou would spend 23 hours per day in lockdown.
The judge ordered some jail time for Ramangmou, stating that he had weakened the community’s trust in law enforcement.
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