DATE: Monday, April 28, 1997                TAG: 9704280045

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY AND JON FRANK, STAFF WRITERS 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:  146 lines

UNSENT LETTER REVEALS MAN'S PLAN FOR REVENGE SISTER HAS QUESTIONS ABOUT HOSTAGE-TAKING, SUICIDE AT FACILITY

Four days before a gun-wielding Timothy L. Gregory walked into The Pines Residential Treatment Center last October and took two hostages before killing himself, he wrote a letter to a newspaper editor outlining his invasion plan.

In the letter, he threatened to take revenge against The Pines, which he believed ruined his career in mental health care.

``After mailing this letter I will invade the . . . Pines Residential Treatment Center,'' Gregory wrote to The Virginian-Pilot in a letter dated Sept. 27, 1996. ``I am prepared for death. Those reptilian brained idiots at (The Pines) better be prepared too.

``The Pines should have let me go without making an issue out of it,'' wrote Gregory, a 48-year-old Army veteran. ``But they chose not to. Because of their unbridled folly many are going to die needlessly.''

Gregory sealed the letter, stamped it and took it to his car. He never mailed it. Authorities found it in a sealed envelope with two stamps, among other belongings, in his car the day after the incident at The Pines, which ended with his suicide.

The 13-page letter, made available by Gregory's sister, Veronica White, provides a detailed look into the tormented mind of a man apparently suffering delusions about his former work environment - delusions that were about to push him into a homicidal rage.

The letter details Gregory's description of an imaginary ``sophisticated blacklisting scheme'' that he felt kept him not only from achieving his career goals at The Pines but also from getting another job.

Early on Oct. 1, hours before he entered The Pines, Gregory became involved in a dispute over car repairs with 31-year-old Fred D. Boone. During the argument, which happened outside Gregory's home in the 2400 block of Deep Creek Blvd., Gregory fatally shot Boone.

With one death already on his hands, Gregory apparently decided to go ahead with his invasion plans at The Pines. He had harbored a grudge against his former employer for more than four years. Gregory worked as a part-time residential counselor there from 1989 to 1992.

After walking unchecked into the facility's Crawford campus late in the afternoon of Oct. 1, Gregory terrorized The Pines staff and frightened some residents - mostly youths with behavioral problems - for about 12 hours. He killed himself as a SWAT team closed in early in the morning of Oct. 2.

When he died, Gregory was behind a closed door with police positioned in an adjacent hallway, a police spokesperson said last week. No one else was injured in the incident.

Authorities confiscated Gregory's weapon, ammunition, clothing and at least three letters from the car Gregory had driven to The Pines.

The letters were held by authorities for several months, and were returned to Gregory's family on Jan. 2. One was addressed to a friend of Gregory's, and the other was addressed to White, one of Gregory's two sisters.

Since then, White said in an interview last week, she has been waiting for a full explanation about exactly how her brother died.

Now, more than seven months after the incident, White believes key information about how her brother died is being kept from her and other members of her family.

White wonders why it took three months for Gregory's letters and his clothing to be returned. And, White said, police have never returned about 20 other items that they confiscated from Gregory's car, including the weapon he used - a Taurus-brand, .357 semi-automatic handgun.

``I call them and they say the case is pending,'' White said. ``Pending for what? Both of the people are dead.''

Amber Whittaker, spokeswoman for the Portsmouth Police Department, confirmed that the case is still open. The state forensics lab, Whittaker said, has not returned the report on the weapon used in the hostage incident. The case will not be completed until the report is returned, she said.

``It's our duty to exclude every possibility,'' Whittaker said.

Whittaker also confirmed that some of the property belonging to Gregory has not been returned to his family.

``That is part of the ongoing investigation,'' Whittaker said.

A complete statement about the incident cannot be made until the investigation is completed.

Other things that White has since learned about her brother's death have also made her doubt the official version, she said.

White said that she was told by someone who was involved in the incident that her brother tried to surrender. And White said she learned that Gregory was shot by police with a pellet-loaded stun gun before he died. A medical examiner's report shows that pellets were removed from Gregory's body.

White said her brother had often threatened suicide, and that the likely cause of death was suicide, which the medical examiner's report concludes. But her lingering doubts about exactly how her brother died remain, and she says they won't be removed until the police answer all of her questions.

``My rights to know what happened are being denied,'' White said.

The return of the letter helped show White how disturbed her brother had become over the twisted memories he had of working at The Pines.

In it, Gregory detailed his grievances against his former employer, claiming his career was sabotaged by managers there.

Gregory claimed in the letter that he was turning to violence because ``I was shamelessly exploited and discarded by The Pines' top and middle managers.''

Gregory came to The Pines with a bachelor of science degree from Norfolk State University with a specialty in interdisciplinary studies. He was hired as a non-benefited worker in November 1989. His position was described as ``flexible'' because he was on-call to fill in as needed.

According to Gregory's letter, he worked hard and set his sights on obtaining a full-time position. Gregory found the work of dealing with severely dysfunctional youths challenging, but enjoyable.

``I never took a day off or called in sick,'' Gregory wrote. ``In spite of the difficulties that confronted me I did an exemplary job.''

At least two of Gregory's evaluations from The Pines, which his sister has copies of, back up that self-assessment.

In June of 1990, about seven months after he was hired, Gregory was described as ``extremely dependable and very flexible.''

Six months later, in December, he was praised for his ``teamwork'' and his ``ability to react in a crisis situation.''

Pines officials confirmed he had received favorable reviews and could have been hired back. But he didn't have a driver's license, they said, and that limited him from being selected for full-time work.

By 1991, Gregory wrote in his letter, other people were being promoted over him despite his good work.

The new supervisors, Gregory wrote, ``made sure that I worked less than thirty hours per week.

``By now, everyone knew that I was being shafted,'' Gregory wrote.

By 1992, Gregory decided that ``rather than fight to remain under-employed at a company that didn't appreciate me, I began looking elsewhere for work.''

Eventually, he came to blame The Pines.

``It never occurred to me that I was being blacklisted,'' Gregory wrote. ``That fact was realized in August 1994 after I was interviewed for a clinician assistant position with Portsmouth's Community Service Board.''

Gregory believed he was having difficulty getting good references from former employers. It was then that he decided that the plot against him extended beyond The Pines.

``Their concerns were that a non-servile black man must be put in his place by any means necessary,' Gregory wrote in his letter. ``So they casted reason to the wind, closed ranks, and colluded . . . in a sophisticated blacklisting scheme against me.''

The ``plot'' against Gregory pushed him to the breaking point, he wrote.

``At age forty-eight, it will be foolish of me to continue working low waged jobs that offer no benefits. For me, that will be submitting to a fate worst than death.''

Gregory was not fired. Pines officials said he eventually stopped showing up for work.

White believes that when her brother invaded The Pines, he never got to the people who he considered to be responsible for his failed career. If he had, White said, the deaths Gregory predicted would have been made a reality.

``He wanted to kill them,'' White said recently during an interview. ``He talked about it all the time.'' MEMO: Staff writer Angelita Plemmer contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Veronica White's brother, Timothy L. Gregory, killed himself after

releasing two hostages at The Pines treatment center in October.

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