Businessman arraigned on rape charges

A Fountain Valley dry cleaning business manager accused of raping and imprisoning a 17-year-old female employee did not enter into a plea bargain in court July 23, said a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office.

First Class Cleaners manager Jamie Zamora Ramirez, 40, is charged with one felony count of forcible rape and one felony count of false imprisonment by violence and deceit, according to a release from the district attorney. The charges hold a maximum sentence of eight years and eight months in state prison.

Ramirez allegedly instructed an employee to drop off the victim at his Costa Mesa house to pick up paperwork July 11. He then allegedly led her to a room where he said he kept the paperwork and locked her inside and raped her, prosecutors say. Ramirez is accused of threatening to report the victim’s undocumented immigration status if she reported him.

The victim reported the incident to the Costa Mesa Police Department, and Ramirez was arrested at First Class Cleaners on July 16, according to the district attorney’s office. Ramirez is being held on $250,000 bail and will continue arraignment 8:30 a.m. Aug. 7 in courtroom H2 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

— Britney Barnes