The Virginian-Pilot
©
PORTSMOUTH
Authorities still were searching Wednesday for an inmate who the sheriff's office says did not report back to the work-release center earlier this month.
Sheriff Bill Watson said his office dropped the ball by not notifying police about the escape.
Authorities are looking for Anthony Thomas Ruffin, 30, who had several months left to serve for a drug possession charge, according to the sheriff's office. Ruffin is accused of two assaults while he was supposed to be out working on a construction job.
Lt. Lee Cherry, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said Ruffin was among low-risk inmates allowed to leave the work-release center during the day. Some are supervised by a deputy when they work and others are allowed to go to construction sites unsupervised.
Ruffin was among seven inmates who work construction jobs, then are taken back to the work-release center to sleep, Cherry said. Ruffin was employed at a home-construction site in Chesapeake.
Ruffin left the work-release center about 7:30 or 7:45 a.m. on Jan. 9. That evening, police say, Ruffin assaulted a man and woman at a house in the 2700 block of Barclay Ave. in Portsmouth.
A police officer was called to the hospital at 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 10 and took a report, said Detective Jan Westerbeck, a police spokeswoman. The victims said that Ruffin attacked them around 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 9 and that he was intoxicated, Westerbeck said.
About 4 a.m. on Jan. 10, the officer obtained two warrants for felony assault against Ruffin.
Cherry of the sheriff's office said Ruffin checked in at the work-release center at 9:46 p.m. on Jan. 9. Cherry said such late check-ins are allowed because inmates sometimes work in evening hours. Their pay goes toward their fines and court costs.
The morning of Jan. 10, Ruffin checked out to go to work, Cherry said. He did not return to the work center that night, he said.
On Jan. 11, the sheriff's office obtained a warrant charging Ruffin with misdemeanor escape.
The sheriff's office should have entered that information into a database shared with police, Cherry said. Deputies in one unit mistakenly believed another unit would handle that task, he said.
Police did not get notification about Ruffin's escape until the night of Jan. 18, Westerbeck said.
"Somebody dropped the ball," Watson said. "I'm not going to fire anybody over it, but that's something you don't want to screw up."
Anyone with information on his whereabouts can call Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP or text the word "Portsmouth" plus a tip to 274637 (CRIMES).
Patrick Wilson, (757) 222-3893, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com
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WHERE'S THE NEWS ON WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?
Would you find it strange the Portsmouth Police officer that took the complaint at the hospital was told this man was an inmate, yet he never notified the Sheriff's Dept?
After the assault, he was in custody of the Sheriff's Dept. for 10 hours, then released to go to work, and this is when he didn't return. Had the Police Dept. notified the Sheriff's Dept. of the incident, he would not have been released to work, but due to the failure of the Officer's not informing the Sheriff's Dept., as should have been done,this prisoner is on the run. We can thank the PD for this incident, not the Sheriff's Dept.
Did I miss something?
The article states that the Police went to the hospital to take a report and then the Officer secured a warrant. How would he know that the suspect was in jail? If he was in jail, then he could not have committed the assault. Enlighten me how the Police are supposed to know the names of each and every inmate in the jail? I am just wondering.....
Sheriff...
It's 10 o'clock... do you know where your prisoners are?
Just wondering...
If anyone knows, is Lt. Lee Cherry the same Lee who went to Frederick Military Academy?
Bill knows where he is......
Sheriff Watson is hiding him.....right next to the cornerstone from Craddock High School.
Now that...
...was funny.
Something Just Does Not Sound Right
The clues do not connect. Hopefully the local officials can figure it out. Seems this reporter is confused, or he is being lead on a wild goose chase. Lots of Luck.
LET'S GET ALL THE FACTS
Let's get all the facts before we start making judgement calls.
Granted, what has happened is wrong, an alert should have been issued immediately for this man.
Hopefully, the reporter will clear up any confusion on the dates of the assault, and his going missing. How long had he been on the Work Release program? How long was his sentence? How much of his sentence has he served? What was his crime? Lots of questions need answering before we jump to conclusions and start bad mouthing anyone.
I haven't seen any news about Chandler being fired for his lies, I haven't seen any news about the Civil Service Commissioner's being terminated for their illegal acts, I haven't seen anything outlining the gag order on SS Dir. Jordan by the City Mgr. W
timeline
Thanks for reading and thanks for your comment. We just updated the story with new information about the timeline of events. -Patrick Wilson, The Pilot.
Are you sure you correctly
Are you sure you correctly updated the time line? You are placing this man in two places within a minute of each other. I am guessing if he checked in to jail at 9:46 PM he was sober or that he would not have been let go the next morning. The victims say that at 9:45 PM he was intoxicated. Is your time line reported incorrectly or is there probably two different people and the witnesses were confused? Can you dig a little deeper on that part?