Inmate's absence raises red flag on work-release

PORTSMOUTH

Jail inmate Anthony Ruffin was supposed to be working at a home construction site in Chesapeake while on work-release.

But on Jan. 9, police records say, Ruffin was intoxicated at 9:45 p.m., when he allegedly attacked a man and woman at a house in Portsmouth. He's still at large.

Compounding Ruffin's absence is that the sign-in sheet at the work-release center says he checked in to the jail at 9:46 p.m. on the same evening that he allegedly was assaulting the pair.

"We haven't deemed who's wrong, yet," said Lt. Lee Cherry, a sheriff's office spokesman.

Perhaps the victims were not precise in reporting the time, or staff at the work-release center incorrectly recorded Ruffin's check-in time, Cherry said.

"That is still under investigation as to whether it was a clerical error ... whether the guy looked at his watch wrong," he said.

With Ruffin missing, the sheriff's office also did not immediately notify Portsmouth police. The incident has raised questions about the work-release program.

"This is a public safety issue because we have a person on the lam who has committed two felonious assaults while they should be incarcerated," Commonwealth's Attorney Earle C. Mobley said.

Cherry estimated that in the past two years, four inmates on unsupervised work-release did not report back to sheriff's deputies as required.

"This is rare," he said.

According to the sheriff's office, Ruffin, 31, had two to three months left to serve for a drug-possession conviction. He was among about seven inmates considered low flight risks who were allowed to be picked up during the day to work at construction sites or restaurants.

The program is designed to teach job skills.

"They will move from builder to builder," Cherry said.

The inmates sleep at the work-release center at the city maintenance yard off Frederick Boulevard. Their pay goes into an account monitored by the sheriff's office. After their fines, court costs and room-and-board at the work-release center are paid, the inmates can give the rest to family or save it, Cherry said.

A sergeant checks that inmates have reported back right after work, Cherry said. Some are scheduled to work late hours at restaurants, he said. "They come and go at different times."

Work-release records show that Ruffin left the jail at about 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 9. He was employed at a home construction site in Chesapeake, Cherry said, although the sheriff's spokesman said he did not know the exact location or name of the construction company.

That night, a man and woman told police that Ruffin attacked them at 9:45 at a house in the 2700 block of Barclay Ave. in Portsmouth, which is listed as Ruffin's home address.

A police officer interviewed them at a hospital after midnight, and around 4 a.m. on Jan. 10, obtained two felony warrants that charged Ruffin with assault.

But according to work-release records, Ruffin checked in at the work-release center at 9:46 p.m. on Jan. 9, around the time of the alleged assault.

Work-release records show that Ruffin left again on the morning of Jan. 10, Cherry said, but never returned.

On Jan. 11, the sheriff's office charged Ruffin with leaving a work, educational or rehabilitative program, a misdemeanor.

The information should have been entered into a database that the sheriff shares with police, but it was not, Cherry said.

"We're dealing with it."

Patrick Wilson, 757-222-3893, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com