From time to time, a cause comes along that unites people to action, and some Flathead County residents have found such a cause in the case of Ted Ramon.

A group of protesters bearing signs with such slogans as “real men protect children,” “justice for all,” and “jail for Ted Ramon!” lined the street in front of the Flathead County Justice Center on Thursday, protesting what until recently had been a proposed suspended sentence for Ramon, who previously pleaded guilty to molesting a young girl.

Ramon, 55, of Polebridge, was charged in 2011 with three felony counts of sexual abuse of children. A court document alleges Ramon showed a girl pornographic materials, offered her cigars, alcohol, and drugs, took pornographic photos of her, and molested her while she was between the ages of 8 and 10 and he was between the ages of 51 and 53.

The document also claims Ramon told a detective that he was mad the girl had not been charged with any crime, and that if it was not for her sexually coming on to him, none of this would have ever happened.

Ramon eventually pleaded no contest to one of the three counts as part of a plea deal that included the recommendation that he receive a 15-year suspended sentence in lieu of jail time, contingent on him undergoing a psychosexual evaluation and receiving a result indicating he posed a low risk to reoffend.

“The judge subsequently determined that there’s a statute that prohibits a person from pleading no contest in certain cases, including the particular crime he is charged with,” said Deputy County Attorney Travis Ahner. “He then brought it to our attention, and so the plea agreement as a result was essentially vacated.”

As a result, a sentencing hearing originally set for Thursday was also vacated.

According to Ahner, a status hearing on Wednesday will help determine if the case will be moving forward to another change of plea hearing under a new agreement or whether it will instead go to trial.

Discussing complaints about the proposed sentence, he said he could not yet go into detail.

“There’s a number of factors that went into the original agreement that we made, most of which I can’t discuss at this time while the case is pending,” Ahner said.

It was Ramon’s planned sentencing set for Thursday that initially drew the protesters — who had appeared in front of the justice center on a prior instance also related to Ramon — but even after hearing that the case had taken a step in the direction they wanted, they decided to show up anyway and continue their efforts.

“We had planned on being here for the sentencing to support the family, and with the change of events we honestly didn’t know if we needed to be here today,” said Jessi Way, who has helped organize the protests. “But we had said that we would be, and there were people we had no way to communicate with otherwise, and every time we stand out here it’s made perfectly clear that we need to be standing out here and doing this.”

As evidence of Way’s experience, for every few vehicles that passed Thursday, one motorist would honk excitedly as they passed or slow down, honk, and cheer their support out the window.

“We’ve been very persistent, but honestly I was discouraged,” Way said. “I was discouraged by the lack of support to start with, I was discouraged by all the people that would say, ‘Yeah, I agree with you,’ but aren’t actually willing to get off their couch and do anything. But we just continued to fight the discouragement and come out here, and it’s really nice to see progress being made.”

None of the protesters, though, were as happy to see the progress as the father of the abuse victim in the case. He stood alongside them all with a sign that read “She is my daughter; jail for Ted Ramon!”

The father did not know Ramon was to receive a suspended sentence until he read it in the news. His first reaction was anger, which he said he has since learned to put aside in favor of fighting for the outcome he believes is right.

“I want to see justice for criminals who commit serious crimes. In my opinion, this is the worst type of crime that exists in our society, and there has to be punishment,” he said. “A message needs to be sent so that other children don’t have to deal with this.”

Although the victim’s father gave permission to use his name in this story, the Inter Lake works strenuously to protect the privacy of victims of sexual crimes and will not identify him here.

He told the Inter Lake he does have hope that his desire for justice will be realized.

“I have spoken with the county attorney and I do have faith in him and what he’s going to do,” the victim’s father said. “Hopefully (Ramon) is going to go to jail for a real long time, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that’s the outcome.”

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.