Last Update: 7/13/2020
The owner of Danville Karate International was arrested on February 21 for allegedly sexually abusing a student at his studio. 63-year-old Ramon Pruitt has been charged with three felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child.
Pruitt is accused of engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior with one of his students. The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office began investigating these allegations against Pruitt after receiving a report of sexual misconduct on January 14.
Pruitt was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility with bail set at $500,000.
Danville police have asked anyone with information regarding this case to contact their investigative unit at 925-314-3711.
Attorney contributor Jason Amala has dedicated his professional law career to standing up for the rights of sex abuse victims. In this role, he helps victims and their families to pursue financial compensation in civil lawsuits. He was generous enough to share some knowledge on the legal options available to victims who may have been sexually abused by a martial arts instructor.
“Martial arts classes are extremely popular with the nation’s youth. And much like other fields that involve working with children, this means that sexual predators are sometimes found working as martial arts instructors. It may be unfortunate and difficult to discuss, but past cases that have surfaced have proven this to be true,” he stated.
On the victims’ path to justice, he had the following to add, “A martial arts instructor sex abuse investigation should not only focus on investigating the accused instructor, but also the studio where the abuse occurred. Some cases are preventable and happen in part due to negligence by the studio employees, manager, and owner – such as failing to report previous allegations of sexual misconduct involving the instructor. When negligence is determined to have been a factor in the incident, victims and their families may have grounds for a lawsuit against the martial arts studio.”