Exclusive: Woman speaks out about being framed

QUEENS

Prosecutors have now charged him.

The Queens woman sat down for an exclusive interview with Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter Sarah Wallace.

"What was it like?" Wallace asked.

"I don't think I can explain in words," Seemona Sumasar said.

35-year-old Seemona Sumasar breaks down when she thinks of the nearly 7 months she spent in the Nassau County jail.

She was held on a million dollars bond, kept from her young daughter and facing the even more terrifying prospect of 25 years behind bars.

"Not only scared for me but my daughter," Sumasar said.

Last week, prosecutors charged Jerry Ramrattan, Sumasar's ex-boyfriend, with setting up an elaborate scheme to frame the young mother for a series of armed robberies that never happened.

Two supposed victims allegedly hired by Ramrattan claimed they'd been pulled over in remote locations of Nassau County by Sumasar, posing as a cop in a bulletproof vest, who then robbed her prey at gunpoint.

"I just can't imagine what you were thinking…the gun, the vest, armed robbery," Wallace said.

"Wake me up when this is over, this can't be for real," Sumasar said.

No matter that she had an ironclad alibi at the time of one of the bogus robberies, there was surveillance video of her at the casino at Mohegan Sun, the evidence against Sumasar seemed overwhelming.

There were convenient statements by the fake victims describing her perfectly, even the Jeep Cherokee she drove.

Ex-boyfriend Jerry Ramrattan knew everything about her.

"I knew he had something to do with it," Sumasar said.

The year before, Sumasar accused Ramrattan of raping her.

He was charged and the case was headed to trial when prosecutors charged her with the robberies.

"I was 100% sure that the reason I was sitting there was to keep me from testifying," Sumasar said.

"There was a great deal of corroboration to support Jerry's motive, to keep her from testifying, to intimidate her. They didn't listen," said Anthony Grandinette, Sumasar's attorney.

Sumasar was released late last week after prosecutors finally did listen.

An informant and phone records linked Ramrattan to the phony victims and they gave full confessions, but she's ruined financially.

The former Morgan Stanley analyst turned entrepreneur has lost the restaurant she owned in Richmond Hill.

"It all sounds like a bad movie," Wallace said.

"It's like a lifetime movie, that's how I describe it," Sumasar said.

"She gets vindicated in the Lifetime movie, do you feel vindicated?" Wallace asked.

"I'm relieved that I'm out," Sumasar said.

Jerry Ramrattan has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, including rape, but Wednesday he'll be hit with additional charges connected to that alleged scheme to frame his ex-girlfriend, this time in Queens.

If you have a tip about this or any other issue you'd like investigated, please give our tipline a call at 877-TIP-NEWS. You may also e-mail us at the.investigators@abc.com and follow Jim Hoffer on Twitter at twitter.com/nycinvestigates

Copyright © 2024 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.