53-year-old Fresno teacher arrested with 28-year-old male on meth charges

A nearly month long investigation not only leads to two arrests for Fresno County Sheriff’s, but one suspect was arrested a day after she taught Kindergarten.

Joseph Frago, 28, and Dorothy Ramirez, 53 were booked into Fresno County jail after being captured by police for several charges of drugs, weapon possession and also one charge of child endangerment after a traffic stop on Wednesday afternoon.

Fresno County Sheriff's Office - Joseph Frago (28)

Fresno County Sheriff's Office - Dorothy Ramiraz (53)

An investigation was first launched back on Aug. 19 according to sheriff spokesman Chris Curtice. Deputies were first dispatched to a 911 call in the area of Glenn and Santa Ana Avenues in Fresno. Three male victims, ages 16, 17, and 20 were approached by suspects in a gold colored Chevy Impala and robbed all three at gunpoint. Witnesses of the encounter saw one male driver and a female passenger.

“During the subsequent investigation, the robbery suspect was identified as Frago and the female occupant of the vehicle was identified as Ramirez,” Curtice said. “The vehicle was also identified as belonging to Ramirez.”

Authorities were able to detain both Frago and Ramirez, after a traffic stop of Ramirez’s Impala near Shaw Avenue and Highway 99 in west Fresno .

Frago wasn’t just discovered to be in possession of narcotics or prescription drugs, he was also caught with throwing knives and a replica Glock bb gun, which was believed to have been used during the armed robbery, according to Fresno Sheriff detectives.

Ramirez, who taught at Easterby Elementary School, was found to be in possession of approximately two grams of methamphetamine and also was discovered with throwing knives, detectives said. Frago had drove by Easterby Elementary located off of Peach and Tulare Avenues to pick up Ramirez before the stop was made by Fresno Sheriff‘s.

However, there were more stunning details involving the Kindergarten teacher.

“It was also learned that Ramirez was in possession of the methamphetamine while in her classroom,” Curtice said. “The methamphetamine was inside her purse on the floor under her desk, clearly accessible to the children in the classroom.”

Fresno Unified School District spokeswoman Susan Bedi issued the following statement regarding Ramirez’s arrest:

We were informed this morning by the Fresno County Sheriffs’ Department of the arrest of an Easterby Elementary School teacher.  The Fresno Unified School District takes these allegations extremely seriously and the employee was immediately placed on administrative leave following her arrest. The teacher has been in our district for 25 years – all at Easterby Elementary.

The safety of our students is our highest priority. Counselors will be at the school site to serve the needs of our students.

As you know, employees of the Fresno Unified School District are screened using fingerprinting that is sent to a national data base, but of course this can only alert the district to past behavior. The district has 10,000 employees, most of whom are upstanding citizens.

Frago was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery, possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana for sales, probation violations and weapons charges, the Fresno Sheriff’s Office reports.

Ramirez is also suspected of possession of methamphetamine and was given a felony child endangerment charge.

Read more:

Fresno Bee – Fresno kindergarten teacher held on drug charge

ABC, KFSN-TV 30 – Fresno Co kindergarten teacher arrested on meth charges

CBS, KGPE-TV, 47 – Kindergarten Teacher Arrested for Drugs

FOX, KMPH-TV 26 – Local Teacher Arrested on Drug, Child Endangerment Charges

KSEE 24 NEWS – Fresno Kindergarten Teacher Arrested For Armed Robbery, Possession of Meth in Classroom

53-year-old Fresno teacher arrested with 28-year-old male on meth charges was last modified: January 10th, 2019 by admin

About Author

Lorenzo Reyna

Lorenzo Reyna is a freelance crime reporter and sports writer in the Fresno area. He is the founder and owner of RedZoneFrenzy.com, which covers California State University, Fresno sports. Before creating the new website, he was a sports reporter at both Scout.com and CSU Fresno's campus newspaper, The Collegian. You can reach him at lorenzo.reyna805@gmail.com