Madera Police arrest accused sexual predator who lured 12-year-old on Facebook

MADERA, Calif. (KFSN) -- A concerned mother discovered disturbing Facebook messages on her 12-year-old daughter's Facebook account and notified Madera Police, and detectives intervened and stopped the accused sexual predator.

Madera Police are using social media to warn parents and children about the dangers of online sexual predators, and they even posted a video of how the sting operation went down.

"He is on the east side of us," an officer in the video said. "He is currently in front of the second apartment building east of Austin, he is turning toward the alley."

They took video of the surveillance and arrest of a suspect who'd been communicating with the victim Facebook. He'd arranged to meet her at a park, but police were there and posted the takedown on Facebook.

"He befriended her on Facebook, sent her a friend request, she accepted that," Sgt. Mark Trukki of the Madera Police Department explained. "They began an online relationship, communicating back and forth, and as he gained her confidence, he started asking nude photos of her and that's when the mom kind of got involved and contacted the police."

Police then took over the girl's Facebook account, pretending to be her and kept communicating with the guy.

"Fortunately, after we took control of the Facebook account, he sent us an inappropriate image of himself via Facebook Messenger," Trukki said.

The suspect, Ricardo Valencia Ramos, now faces six felony charges, including arranging to meet a minor for lewd and lascivious behavior.

The arrest is online, along with the message to parents to watch what your children are doing online. Police say the mother did the right thing.

"She was aware of what her daughter was doing, they communicated together," Trukki said. "And she told her daughter this was not okay behavior and reported it to the police."

The suspect, in this case, was persistent. The mother actually went online to warn him to stay away from her daughter, but he continued until he was arrested.