Seemona Sumasar's case - A detailed case overview ahead of Dateline

Dateline revisits the Seemona Sumasar case, a Queens story in which a woman reported rape and was later jailed after a bogus robbery pattern appeared to implicate her. Prosecutors said the plot was engineered by her ex-boyfriend, Jerry Ramrattan, and a jury later convicted him.

The re-air was on Oxygen on Thursday, September 25, as part of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered Season 11, episode Vengeance. The broadcast focused on how the scheme formed, how it was exposed, and what followed in court.

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Dateline case overview: the setup and arrest

After a breakup, Seemona Sumasar reported that Jerry Ramrattan assaulted her on March 8, 2009. He had presented himself as tied to law enforcement and, reportedly, as a source for agencies, a point later discussed in TV interviews. According to ABC7 Chicago (January 2012), he described himself as a “paid source” during a jailhouse exchange.

Months later, a string of supposed robberies was reported in Queens and on Long Island. Callers described a woman posing as an officer, gave matching vehicle details, and later picked Sumasar from photo arrays.

Witnesses picked Sumasar from photo arrays before her arrest (Image via Pexels)

Sumasar was arrested in May 2010 and jailed on $1 million bail for nearly seven months while insisting she had been framed. According to The New York Times (November 2011), the case against her relied on staged scenes and false statements.

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Dateline case overview: the frame-up unravels

In December 2010, an informant came forward and linked Jerry Ramrattan to the accusers, which shifted the trajectory of the case. Phone records and interviews tied him to the purported “victims,” who then recanted and pleaded guilty to perjury.

Per CNN (January 2012), Nassau County dropped its charges, and she was released in December 2010; the Queens indictment was dismissed in January 2011.

Court filings later detailed how the false reports were organized and how license plate numbers associated with her circle were incorporated into the narrative. A federal opinion summarized those facts while addressing her civil claims against investigators, according to Sumasar v. Nassau Cnty. (March, 2016).

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Dateline case overview: trial, verdict, and aftermath

Ramrattan’s trial opened in late 2011. Prosecutors said he sought to discredit Sumasar before the rape case reached a jury by creating crimes that never happened. A Queens jury convicted him of first-degree rape, first-degree perjury, conspiracy, witness tampering, and falsely reporting an incident. According to CNN, the verdict confirmed the frame-up.

A Queens jury convicted Ramrattan of rape, perjury, and related charges (Image via Pexels)

At sentencing, the judge imposed the maximum term allowed by law. Reuters (January 2012) reported the 32-year sentence and noted that Sumasar had spent months in jail on fabricated allegations before the plot fell apart.

Years later, Nassau County settled a civil suit brought by Sumasar and her daughter. Today.com reported that the county defendants agreed to pay $2 million in 2017.

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Where to watch Seemona Sumasar's case

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered can be streamed on fuboTV, YouTube TV, and the Oxygen app.

The story also appears in Worst Ex Ever on Netflix, in the episode “Betrayed by the Badge,” and in Karma’s a Btch!* in the episode titled “The Justice System Failed Her.” These programs revisit key moments, including the informant tip, the recantations, and the trial timeline.

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