Husband of Apopka child caregiver accused of molesting girl

Girl says she was abused for years, records show

APOPKA, Fla. – The husband of a child caregiver repeatedly molested a girl for years beginning when she was 8 years old, according to the Apopka Police Department.

Police said they became aware of the allegations on Jan. 1 when the 11-year-old victim became upset and begged not to go to a home on Sheeler Oaks Drive to be cared for even as her two brothers were excited. The girl then told her parent she didn’t want to go because Gustavo Ramos Beltran, whose wife cares for children at the home, would touch her inappropriately, records show.

The victim said the abuse started the first time she went to the home when she was 8 and has happened almost every time she’s visited since then, according to the affidavit.

Police said Ramos Beltran would inappropriately touch the girl both over and under her clothes.

Apopka police noted in the report that Ramos Beltran faced a similar accusation in 2018 but the child and her mother in that case declined to press charges.

In that instance, a teenage girl said Ramos Beltran molested her several years earlier when she was receiving care at the home. Records show the Department of Children and Families investigated at the time and shut down the unlicensed home daycare.

Authorities said that although Ramos Beltran’s wife cared for children at the home, the residence is not a home daycare as defined by DCF.

Attorney Amir A. Laden said Ramos Beltran is innocent.

“Our client is innocent of the accusations levied against him. We look forward to his exoneration in the coming weeks and ask that you not paint him in a false light or further perpetuate these falsehoods. The damage that is being done to him and to his family is irreparable,” Laden said in a statement to the media.

Ramos Beltran, 49, is facing two counts of sexual battery and five counts of lewd and lascivious molestation.

"My client flatly rejects that these things occurred," Ladan said during Ramos Beltran's initial appearance Wednesday morning.

A judge ordered he be held at the Orange County jail on a $135,000 bond.

A woman at Ramos Beltran’s home declined to speak to News 6 about the arrest.


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