Opinion ID: 4550523
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 2014 CPO

Text: On March 28, 2014, Ms. Ramirez filed a petition for a CPO, alleging that Mr. Salvattera sexually assaulted her in October 2013. At a nine-day hearing held before Judge Fern Flanagan Saddler from May to July 2014, the trial court heard testimony from Ms. Ramirez, as well as from a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (“SANE nurse”) who testified generally about sexual assault; a SANE nurse who examined Ms. Ramirez in October 2013; an employee at a nutrition center that Ms. Ramirez frequented; Ms. Ramirez’s sister; and an investigator for the Public Defender Service (“PDS”) (which represented Mr. Salvattera). The court found the following facts. Since September 2001, Ms. Ramirez had lived in a third-floor unit of an apartment building in Northwest Washington, D.C. with her children, and, for a time, her father. At the time of the 2014 hearing, Ms. Ramirez was thirty-one years old and worked at an herbal medicine store. During the period relevant to the CPO petition, Mr. Salvattera lived in a first-floor unit of the same building, where he acted as a building manager. Before the events that gave rise to the petition, Ms. Ramirez had visited Mr. Salvattera’s apartment several times to discuss rent. During one visit by Mr. Salvattera to Ms. Ramirez’s apartment in 5 order to do some work, he told her that he wanted to hug her and that he had dreamed about her wearing a red dress. On October 26, 2013, Mr. Salvattera sent Ms. Ramirez a text message stating that he wanted to discuss the rent with her father. On October 28, Ms. Ramirez went to Mr. Salvattera’s apartment around 10:00 p.m. to discuss rent with him, first knocking on his door and then on his window to be let in. She stayed at Mr. Salvattera’s apartment for about an hour discussing rent. During this time, he showed her a picture that he had taken of her by the trash can outside the apartment building. Ms. Ramirez had been concerned about eviction, and, when they discussed it, Mr. Salvattera said that she could be out on the street at any time. Ms. Ramirez had had two beers with dinner earlier in the evening; while she was at Mr. Salvattera’s apartment, he offered her sangria and she drank three glasses. She did not see him pour the third glass. Five minutes after she took a sip of it, she had a stomachache and vomited blood. She remembered nothing until she woke up in Mr. Salvattera’s bed, naked from the waist down. When she asked Mr. Salvattera what happened, he said that they took their clothes off and “what had to happen happened.” Ms. Ramirez began to yell and cry, and she said that she would call the police. Mr. Salvattera denied doing anything and told her to get out. Ms. Ramirez left the apartment. On October 29, she went to a clinic and then a 6 hospital. At the hospital, she was examined by a SANE nurse and spoke to a detective; Ms. Ramirez reported no pain or injury to the SANE nurse, other than pain in her chest, and the SANE nurse found no forensic evidence of sexual assault. Prior to the October 2013 incident, Ms. Ramirez had experienced anxiety and panic attacks, had taken medication for anxiety, and had a history of vomiting and bleeding. After the incident, she began to experience anxiety, panic, and fear, particularly when she passed Mr. Salvattera’s apartment on her way in and out of the building. She frequently saw Mr. Salvattera in and around the building after the October 2013 incident, but no additional incidents occurred. On August 26, 2014, at the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Saddler found good cause to believe that Mr. Salvattera committed a criminal offense, finding by a preponderance of the evidence that he committed misdemeanor sexual abuse or sexual contact against Ms. Ramirez. 1 The judge issued a CPO for one year, which 1 See D.C. Code § 22-3006 (“Misdemeanor sexual abuse”) (2012 Repl. & 2020 Supp.); see also D.C. Code § 22-3001(9) (2012 Repl.) (“Definitions” (defining “sexual contact”)). The trial judge stated that Mr. Salvattera committed an “intrafamily offense.” Under D.C. Code § 16-1001(6)-(9) (2012 Repl.), a criminal offense only (…continued) 7 ordered Mr. Salvattera to refrain from assaulting, threatening, or harassing Ms. Ramirez; to stay 100 feet away from Ms. Ramirez, and to vacate the apartment building by September 12, 2014.