Zumbrota man appears in court with highest criminal score in judge’s experience

(ABC 6 News) – A Zumbrota man appeared in Dodge County Court Thursday, Feb. 2, and was found to have the highest accumulated criminal score in Judge Jodi Williams’ history with the county.

Ramon Jimenez Ruiz, 43, was arrested in early January on a charge of felony check forgery.

According to court documents, Ruiz allegedly used a forged check from Zumbrota business Greseth Drywall to purchase two Miller welders from Dodge Center business Airgas on Jan 3.

When the check bounced, Airgas employees called law enforcement, who claim that Ruiz used a false name to purchase the welders and attempted to sell them to Mississippi Welders in Rochester on Jan. 6.

According to court documents, Ruiz was arrested Jan. 14 in Forest Lake, after allegedly attempting to pass a fraudulent check in that city.

Minnesota courts use a system called the Minnesota Pretrial Assessment Tool to give each criminally charged individual a score based on their number of previous convictions, pending cases in court, warrant arrests, and housing, education, and chemical dependence.

A score of 0-11 is considered low, a score of 12-25 is considered moderate, and a score above 26 is considered high.

Judge Williams said in court Thursday that Ruiz had the highest MPAT score she had ever encountered — 141.

Ruiz’s defense argued that if cases from more than 10 years previous were discounted, Ruiz’s score would drop to 20 — a moderate number — and asked for a low bail amount.

“I am concerned by your pending cases all over creation,” Williams said in court Thursday, and set conditional bail for Ruiz at $20,000.

He is currently incarcerated at the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center.

According to court documents, Ruiz has the following cases pending: driving after license suspension in Dodge County, felony check forgery in Washington County, and several counts of credit card fraud and theft in Goodhue County.

According to Minnesota Court Records, between 2008 and 2017 he was previously convicted of selling stolen or counterfeit checks, aggravated forgery, and offering a forged check, as well as various traffic violations in Hennepin County, domestic assault, drug possession and theft in Washington County, various traffic violations in Dakota County, receiving stolen property, domestic assault and damage to property in Scott County, assault, including several charges of assaulting a police officer, obstructing the legal process, and traffic violations in Olmsted County, assault in Fillmore County, receiving stolen property in Ramsey and Anoka Counties, and more traffic violations in Mower and Goodhue Counties — among other minor violations not listed above.