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WEST JORDAN — A nurse practitioner was charged Wednesday with sexually abusing an elderly woman during an exam.
Paul Lucas Ramirez, 49, of Orem, is charged in 3rd District Court with rape, object rape and forcible sodomy, first-degree felonies; and forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
Police say the incident happened in July 2022. A woman who lives in an apartment complex for senior citizens said that with her Medicare program, "a medical professional comes to your residence for a routine exam" once a year.
For the past several years, the person conducting the exam has been a woman. But in July, the victim told police Ramirez showed up at her door, according to charging documents.
At first, Ramirez was professional and everything was normal, the woman told police. But after conducting a breast exam, Ramirez told the woman, "Well, it's only fair you showed me yours that I show you mine," and took off his scrubs, the charges allege.
Ramirez then sexually abused the woman in her bedroom several ways, according to the charges. After he was done, the woman told police he "returned to doctor-mode."
Four days later, Ramirez returned to the woman's apartment and told her, "Don't you tell anyone, you know, or they won't believe you," the charges state. The woman told police that she did not report the incident right away "because she was scared and still in shock."
West Jordan police were called to investigate. On Wednesday, a warrant was issued for Ramirez's arrest with prosecutors requesting that he be held in jail without the possibility of posting bail because he "used his position of trust to prey upon an elderly person. The defendant is a danger to the victim and the community."
