SHORELINE, Wash. — A former caregiver at a Shoreline assisted living facility is now facing multiple rape charges nearly a year and a half after the alleged incidents occurred.
Romulo Ramos de Guzman faces two charges of rape in the second degree of patients at Aegis Living Center in Shoreline. The two victims are identified by their initials in court documents, and both are said to have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and deal with "significant cognitive impairment."
Court documents in the case say one of the victims told her daughter that she had been raped on Nov. 1, 2022. However, the victim gave the date of the rape as having been six months prior, before she had moved into the facility. Her daughter and staff determined that she was "confused and was likely recalling an event from earlier in her life," so the incident was not reported that day, court documents said. However, the victim then pointed out De Guzman to a staff member on Nov. 3 and told them that he was the man who had raped her.
Aegis told KING 5 that the incident was "immediately reported to DSHS and APS as is our protocol."
The first victim provided more details in a Dec. 14 interview with staff, court documents say. Probable cause documents explain that staff logs showed De Guzman had provided service to the victim only once, on Nov. 1.
Aegis told KING 5 that once it was made aware of the situation "we rapidly activated internal safety protocols, removing the staff member from the community, directing staff interviews, switching residents to female care teams and conducting continual rounds for monitoring concerns."
The second victim called her sister to report that she had been sexually assaulted on the evening of Nov. 3, court documents say. The woman was taken to the hospital for a sexual assault examination. She told the nurse that the sexual assaults had begun several weeks before, with at least four to five incidents, court documents say.
De Guzman was suspended and put on paid leave on Nov. 4 while the allegations were investigated, court documents say. A detective arranged an interview with him in late November, but he never showed. Eventually, De Guzman agreed to meet in a parking lot near his Lynnwood home, with a Tagalog interpreter.
Aegis shared a statement with KING 5 that read, in part:
"In early November 2022, we learned of two alleged sexual assaults in one of our communities. These incidents were directly reported to the supervisor and the General Manager. Aegis immediately notified the families and began a full internal investigation. Additional safety protocols were also activated, including staff interviews, switching these residents to female assisted care teams and conducting continual rounding to monitor for any other concerns. We shared findings with the Seattle Police department and State authorities were also informed.
We placed the former employee in question on administrative leave while the police conducted their investigation. During this time the individual fled the country, and we formally terminated this employee. Because his passport was flagged by the police, they were alerted when he returned to the country in February 2024. We continue throughout to work with the police and collaborate very closely with the families while protecting the dignity and respecting the privacy of these residents."
The suspect denied all of the allegations in that Jan. 23 interview with police.
On Jan. 31, a single male DNA profile was found from one of the victims' sexual assault kits. The suspect avoided the detective's repeated inquiries about conducting a DNA swab to match with the sample, and the detective learned in March that De Guzman had left the country to travel to the Philippines.
In February 2024, De Guzman returned to the U.S. and detectives were notified by Customs and Border Patrol agents. The detective began surveilling De Guzman, and eventually recovered a cigarette butt that he had dropped on the ground.
A crime lab test found that the DNA profile from the victim matched the profile from the cigarette butt that De Guzman had discarded.
Prosecutors requested bail be set at $350,000, as De Guzman was said to pose a "serious flight risk" after avoiding interviews with police and leaving the country for almost a year.
De Guzman was required to surrender his passport if he posted bail, and ordered to not have contact with either victim.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. Additional resources are available on the Washington State Department of Health's website.
