Fairfield man pleads guilty in June’s Sabor Peruano shooting

The 31-year-old Fairfield man accused of firing a weapon into a car of people at a Dixie Highway nightclub in June pleaded guilty to a single felonious assault count.

Jose Ciprian Ramirez-Hernandez had faced six counts of felonious assault, all second-degree felonies, but his attorney, Scott Croswell, negotiated a plea deal to one count, but a one-year gun specification was included in the charge. That gun specification has a mandatory prison term attached, said Butler County Common Pleas Judge Daniel Haughey.

“I know it has been explained to you, that because of the nature of these charges, a prison term will be imposed,” said the judge, adding that “a lack of any (criminal) history on your part the court will consider in this case.”

Ramirez-Hernandez could face upwards of 13 years in prison, the judge said, but after any sentence, there would be a mandatory post-release control, which could be between 18 months to three years.

Fairfield police claim that on June 8, Ramierz-Hernandez fired a weapon into a car full of people at Sabor Peruano, a nightclub and restaurant on Dixie Highway. Police officers responded to the shooting report and found a male victim with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the arm. That victim was transported to a local hospital and later released.

Ramirez-Hernandez had been in this country since he was 12 years old, when his family moved from Mexico. He owns a home and a roofing business. He’s been in the Butler County Jail since Aug. 22.

Fairfield police officials said the incident, which involved Ramirez-Hernandez, was one of the contributing factors that led to an Aug. 16 targeted operation that included federal immigration agents and other law enforcement at Sabor Peruano, resulting in 39 arrests of people either in the parking lot of the establishment or during nearby traffic stops.

Ramirez-Hernandez is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 8.

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