Face mask DNA leads to arrest of man in child molestation case, California cops say

A discarded coronavirus face mask helped police arrest a man accused of child molestation, California police said.

Leonardo Ramirez, 28, was arrested after a DNA sample collected from a discarded face mask matched a DNA sample collected two years ago when a young girl was sexually assaulted, according to a King City Police Department news release.

In February 2018, a juvenile girl reported being sexually assaulted, but police did not know the suspect’s identity, police said.

“As time progressed members of the Major Crimes Unit (MCU), a collaborative investigative unit created by the King City and Greenfield Police Departments, continued to evaluate and investigate the case in an attempt to identify the suspect,” the news release said. “Earlier this year information was developed leading MCU personnel to suspect Leonardo Ramirez, a male resident of King City, as a person of interest in the crimes in question.”

Police said Major Crimes Unit officials met with Ramirez to “discuss an unrelated matter” at the King City Police Department.

“When Leonardo Ramirez arrived he was offered a disposable mask to comply with the ongoing Monterey Public Health Order as investigators were to be in close proximity as they spoke,” the news release said. “Upon receiving the mask Leonardo Ramirez discarded a mask he had been wearing which MCU staff collected at the conclusion of the interview.”

The mask was submitted for DNA testing by the California Department of Justice, and the DNA on the mask matched a sample collected in 2018, according to the news release.

Ramirez was arrested and charged with rape and child molestation, police said.