The brother of the original suspect in Etan Patz’s disappearance told cops that his sibling sexually abused him when he was around the same age as Etan, The Post has learned — and the allegation could hurt the Manhattan DA’s case against another man now charged in the crime.
The current suspect, Pedro Hernandez, is set to go to trial after admitting to kidnapping 6-year-old Etan from a Soho street in 1979 and killing him.
But a lawyer for Hernandez, who has since recanted, said he would use the newly revealed allegation by the brother of original suspect Jose Ramos to try to move scrutiny back onto Ramos.
The lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, said he would grill Jose Ramos, 70, at trial over his alleged childhood abuse of brother Reinaldo Ramos, 66.
“If [Jose] Ramos would testify at [Hernandez’s] trial, which is our expectation, then this is something that he would questioned about as a prior bad act, which goes to his credibility,’’ Fishbein said.
“I’m bringing him in on a material-witness order. Judge Wiley in New York has signed an order declaring [Jose] Ramos a material witness, and Pennsylvania has agreed to produce him in New York for the trial.
“This would be an area we would question him about. It goes to his credibility and his violent tendencies sexually abusing someone and the violence. If this is accurate, it will play a role in the trial.”
Reinaldo Ramos told Florida cops after his own May 2001 bust for sexually assaulting four boys that his older brother abused him as a child, according to a document from the Broward County Sheriff’s Department.
Reinaldo first “made a spontaneous statement regarding how his brother killed that Etan Patz,” the document states, adding that Reinaldo told them learned his sibling was a suspect while reading an article in a magazine at the library.
Reinaldo then said “it reminded him of himself because he was the same age as Patz when his brother molested him,’’ says the document.
“When Reinaldo Ramos was approximately 10 years old, Jose Ramos took him behind a White Castle and forced Reinaldo to perform oral sex on him and a friend,’’ the document says, quoting Reinaldo’s interview with officers.
“When Reinaldo resisted, Jose Ramos … slammed a large rock on the top of his head, knocking him out.
“Reinaldo then showed detectives a scar on his right forehead area,’’ the document states.
Eric Hendel, one of the investigators who took Reindaldo’s statement at the time, told The Post that as soon as Reinaldo mentioned Etan, the prober “was on the phone with [then-Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau].
“We were pushing for additional accomplices for the several boys [Reinaldo] molested in the area. He suddenly said his brother ‘killed that Etan Patz,’ ” Hendel said. “I came running back to the office and called [New York City law-enforcement] immediately.’’
Two investigators flew in to grill Reinaldo on what he might know about Etan, Hendel said, but Reinaldo said the only information he had was what he’d read and seen on TV.
Reinaldo is currently serving the end of a 17-year term on his molestation raps. Jose also is still in prison on unrelated kiddie-sex-abuse charges.
Jose, who had been the boyfriend of Etan’s baby sitter, was long been considered the prime suspect in the child’s disappearance.
But he was never brought to criminal trial. Authorities said in a controversial decision at the time that they didn’t have enough evidence to win a conviction. Etan has never been found.
Still, Ramos was found liable for Etan’s death at a civil trial brought against him by the child’s parents.
A spokeswoman for the Manhattan DA’s office declined comment.