THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502100511
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Dallas Ellington, the client who a Norfolk social worker says harassed him for six months, was convicted Thursday of stalking and ordered to jail.
Substitute General District Judge Terry B. Huffman sentenced Ellington to six months in jail, suspending all but 30 days of the term, and imposed a $100 fine. He also ordered Ellington to stay away from the social worker, Brent Ramey.
``I am sympathetic to you for the frustration you obviously feel with the social services agency,'' the judge told Ellington. ``Quite frankly, I think your conduct here has exceeded anything that could be called frustration. He's a public servant. He is not paid to get threatened, to have people show up unannounced at his home.''
Ramey testified that Ellington threatened him, harassed him and came to his house unannounced. He also said he believes Ellington is responsible for damaging his car and having it towed.
Ramey, 48, was happy with the conviction but says he doesn't think the hearing accomplished much.
``I don't feel at all secure,'' he said after court. ``It's difficult to feel at rest when you don't know when something is going to happen behind your back or in the dark of night.''
Since summer, he has gotten an unlisted telephone number, added a security alarm, often parks his car so that it cannot easily be found and is extra cautious, he said. But none of it makes him feel better.
Ellington, 38, posted bond Thursday and was released. He plans to appeal.
Ramey, who in the early 1970s suffered powder burns on his face from a gunshot while visiting a client, said he resents that city officials have not gotten more involved in the conflict with Ellington.
``I don't understand why I'm ignored by my employer,'' he said. ``This person is dangerous, and my employer has set me up to be his victim.''
Ramey is angry that the city has required him to continue to testify against Ellington as a social services client, even after he told them that he felt threatened.
John Kownack, assistant director of Norfolk social services, and others with the agency had wrestled with their role in the dispute, but decided they needed to be in court Thursday to support Ramey.
``We felt it was important on behalf of our 60 social workers who have to go into houses to do it without fear of retaliation in doing their job,'' he said. ``If they can't do it, we're not protecting children like we should.
The dispute began after an incident July 15 in which Ellington struck his son. The 14-year-old boy's head hit the refrigerator and required stitches. Bonny Ellington, the boy's mother and Dallas' wife, called 911.
Ramey was the child protective services worker assigned to the case, and Ellington was not happy with the outcome: a court order keeping him from visiting his son until he underwent psychiatric evaluation. He and his wife now cannot live together if she is to retain custody of their son.
``Brent Ramey was the first worker on the abuse case,'' said Bonny Ellington. ``My husband got a little upset with him. He took away his son.''
Ramey's first run-in with Ellington was on July 22, when Ellington showed up his office, used profanity and leaned inches from his face saying: ``If you don't stay out of my business, you're going to be sorry,'' Ramey told the judge Thursday.
He testified that he also suspects Ellington is the cause of about $1,000 in property damage since July 1994. He believes Ellington also is to blame for prank phone calls, having his car towed and putting nails in his tires. He said he received phone calls as recently as January.
Ramey said he'll try to put the case from his mind until the appeal.
Ellington just wants to see the son he hasn't seen since Christmas.
``Will this case ever end?'' he said after court. ``No, it won't. It's gotten out of hand. Ramey won't slack off on me, and I'm not going to slack off on him.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Social worker Brent Ramey in 1988.
KEYWORDS: HARRASSMENT STALKING TRIAL
VERDICT by CNB