Riverhead police: Man charged in nursery school incident was not trying to abduct a child

The 32-year-old man who was arrested Friday for trespassing on a nursery school playground and touched a child may have simply been trying to get home, according to Riverhead Town Police, who said they have determined he was not attempting to abduct the child.

Police told RiverheadLOCAL Gemler Ramos, who is currently being held on $5,000 bond or $2,500 cash bail on a charge of criminal tresspass, was intoxicated at the time of the incident and was likely attempting to use the property to cut through to his own Roanoke Avenue residence nearby.

Lt. Rick Boden said one witness, a representative of the cemetery bordering the nursery school property, provided accounts of seeing the defendant cut through the cemetery in the past.

“We don’t know his motive, but he didn’t attempt to take the child or we would have charged him with more than criminal trespassing,” Boden said, adding an order of protection issued at the defendant’s arraignment, directing him to stay away from the school property, should prevent future incidents.

“We’re pretty confident he was intoxicated and didn’t know or understand the ramifications of being at a nursery school and touching a child as being anything more than a bad mistake,” Boden said.

The defendant, Boden said, may not have been mentally disabled, as the nursery school teacher told reporters. See May 1 story,”Man jumps fence of nursery school playground in Riverhead, grabs 3-year-old child.” 

“We don’t know if he was mentally disabled,” the lieutenant said. “He didn’t talk too much, perhaps because of a language barrier, and his behavior was a little off, but that could have been a result of the intoxication.” 

Ramos will return to court May 13.

Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.