HAMILTON -- A teen convicted of assaulting and raping a neighbor was sentenced Friday morning to 28 years in prison.Alex Ramirez was 14 when he beat, robbed and raped a 64-year-old woman who lived near his home.
Ramirez, standing trial as an adult, pleaded no contest and was found guilty of the assault in August.
He faced up to 83 years in prison. Ramirez, who will not be eligible for parole, was determined to be in the country illegally and will be deported when he completes his sentence.
Prior to sentencing, Ramirez, his mother, his victim and his victim's son all made statements to Judge Keith Spaeth.
"Basically, her heart hurts for what he did," said the teen's mother, Ava Ramirez, through an interpreter.
His victim, Phyllis Mays, told the judge that Ramirez was after only one thing that night, sex.
"I offered him $5; it was all I had," said Mays, who has agreed to be identified in media reports. "I offered him a diamond ring and he wouldn't take that, and I offered him a charge card and he wouldn't take that. either. He was there expressively for sex."
Ramirez, speaking publicly for the first time, did not ask for mercy or leniency, but he apologized and said he wanted to change.
"What can I do to make her stop suffering? I don't know what to do," Ramirez told the court. "I can't live with myself. I hate myself. I can't change what I did. People look at me as a monster. They have every right to. I did something wrong. I hurt her."
The judge described Ramirez, who must remain in prison until he is 43 years old, as someone whose internal compass was broken and could not be repaired.
The victim's son said the teen's crimes continued to have an impact on his family.
"It sent a shockwave, like if you drop a rock in a pond and you just see the ripples, and it's still rippling," said John Feltner.
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