New York City man charged with torturing teen siblings in Bronx apartment

A New York City man has been arrested and faces multiple charges after police discovered his battered teen siblings in a Bronx apartment, where they had allegedly been trapped since January.

Police charged 34-year-old Michael Ramos with endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful imprisonment, assault and several counts of criminal possession of a weapon, according to a criminal complaint from the Bronx District Attorney's Office. 

Police responded to a call of a dispute and, when they entered Ramos' Bronx apartment, they found an unregistered, defaced and loaded pistol on the dining room table, according to the criminal complaint. Two children, a 14-year-old and a 13-year-old, were also in the apartment.

Ramos'14-year-old sister told police that she and her 13-year-old brother had not been allowed to leave the apartment since January 2023.

The 14-year-old described the horrifying abuse the pair allegedly endured for months, including multiple occasions when Ramos took his pistol and held it to her and her brother's heads, telling them "Someone is going to die today. Do you want to die today? Open your mouth," prosecutors said. 

When the teens refused to open their mouths, Ramos would repeatedly strike them in the forehead, side of the head and ears with the bottom of the pistol, the sister told police.  

The 14-year-old also told police Ramos on multiple occasions repeatedly struck the pair on their heads and other parts of their bodies with a wooden bat, a metal bat, a black tension rod and an electrical cord, prosecutors said.

She also claimed Ramos would apply ointment cream to his hands before putting on motorcycle gloves and repeatedly punching the siblings on their heads and bodies.

The 14-year-old said Ramos jabbed a fork into the right side of her face and knees, leading to bleeding puncture wounds and lacerations, according to prosecutors. She also witnessed Ramos jab her brother as well, she said. 

Ramos even used a samurai sword to cut different parts of his sister's body, making her bleed, she told police. 

A local child abuse pediatrician treated the siblings and said they had "patterned injuries in various stages of healing about their bodies in the form of linear marks and that said injuries and marks are consistent with being whipped by an electrical cord."

The pediatrician said the 13-year-old boy suffered a "subgaleal hematoma" after getting hit in the head and skull, according to prosecutors. 

The pediatrician also observed that the boy had injuries on his thighs and shins consistent with being hit by a belt that was found in the apartment. The sister had a puncture wound on the side of her cheek consistent with being jabbed with a fork, the complaint said.

Police also found that the siblings' bedroom door had a lock on the outside of the door, making it so they could not unlock the door from inside the bedroom, the complaint said.