Evidence suppression bid in child porn case rejected
A Greene County judge has rejected a Dayton psychologist’s bid to suppress evidence obtained by search warrants in a child pornography case.
Gregory Ramey is facing charges of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, pandering obscenity involving a minor, attempted pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and tampering with evidence in Greene County Common
PleasCourt. He faces 145 counts overall and has pleaded not guilty.
His defense team previously asked the court to throw out evidence in the case. They argued that search warrants allowing investigators to search email accounts andRamey’shome lacked probable cause and were too general. They also said the affidavit lacked a factual basis to support an issuance of a warrant.
However, Greene County Common Pleas Judge Stephen Wolaver wrote in his ruling that the defense had not supported its claim that evidence collected from a handful of search warrants shouldn’t be allowed in the case.
“The court finds the defendant has failed in his burden to show there was insufficient probable cause or particularity in each search warrant,” the judge wrote in his ruling. “Based upon the totality of the circumstances the facts are not stale to invalidate the search warrant. The motion to suppress is denied in its entirety, and the evidence obtained from the execution of the warrants may be used in any further proceedings of this case.”
In his ruling, the judge says the search warrants began with information collected from the ICAC (the internet crimes against children task force) advising that accounts were downloading and sending child pornography. The tips led to email accounts related to the accused, the judge wrote.
“The information provided to affiant include identification of images of children ages 6-12 in a state of ‘erotica.’ Two search warrants identified AOL accounts and a Gmail account belonging to the defendant associated with the above information with over 100 images downloaded and sent electronically,” the entry says.
Ramey’s attorney, Jon Paul Rion, previously told media that the images are not pornographic and that the individuals are clothed. A message sent by the newspaper to the defense seeking comment about the judge’s ruling wasn’t returned.
Ramey was a longtime employee of Dayton Children’s Hospital and served as executive director for pediatric mental health resources at Dayton Children’s. Ramey’s employment was terminated in August 2019, the hospital said.
Atrial in the case has been scheduled for March.