A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge denied bail reduction for a Santa Maria basketball coach alleged to have molested his stepdaughter, even though she recanted her accusation in open court on Dec. 19.
Ramoan Blackmon, who is the executive director of Cal Hoops Elite Basketball Academy in Santa Maria, was arrested on Nov. 16 and booked into jail on suspicion of committing several counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child between August 2012 and November 2016. Blackmon remains in jail with his bail set at $100,000.
The girl was identified as “Jane Doe” in court documents, although it was revealed in court that she is Blackmon’s stepdaughter.
At Blackmon’s preliminary hearing, the girl testified she originally reported to a counselor at Santa Maria High School (SMHS) in November that Blackmon touched her inappropriately on her breasts, buttocks, and genitals on several occasions. But none of it was true, according to her testimony.
The girl’s story began to unravel as Addison Steele, Blackmon’s public defender, questioned her. She accused Blackmon of molesting her since 2012, although Steele’s client didn’t move in with the accuser’s mother until 2013.
In court, the girl testified that she had been seeing a counselor by the name of “Hillary” at SMHS for several months because she was having visits with her biological father, but added that the visits had stopped.
Crying several times throughout her testimony, the minor explained that she made the story up because she wanted to have something to talk about with her counselor.
As a state mandated reporter, the counselor was required to notify police. The Sun reached out to the Santa Maria-Bonita School District, but calls went unreturned as of press time.
The girl also denied that she was encouraged to change her story.
“It appeared to me that Jane Doe was very sincere as to how and why she made up her story,” Steele told the Sun.
It’s not clear why Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Gustavo Lavayen denied bail, although Steele told the Sun that such an accusation is enough for a holding order for his client.
In 2004, Blackmon was accused of having sex with a minor, but at the time he was 24 years old and the minor was 17 years old. The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor and eventually dismissed several years later, according to Steele.
Blackmon reappeared on court on Jan. 3 to request a trial date but wasn’t able to because the District Attorney (DA) wasn’t present. Blackmon’s trial must start by March 6, according to Steele, or else the case gets dismissed.
The DA would have one more chance to re-file the case within the alleged crimes’ statute of limitations if the case is dismissed. The limitations are compounded, meaning Blackmon could face charges in years to come, although Steele added that a case is typically re-filed for the second time on the same day it’s dismissed.
This article appears in Jan 5-12, 2017.
