Romney Christopher Ellis, Making Threats and Mailing a Dead Animal, Florida 2020

Tampa, Florida – A chilling case of harassment and intimidation has come to an end with the guilty plea of Indianapolis man Romney Christopher Ellis (55, Indianapolis, IN). Ellis has admitted to making threats and mailing a dead animal using the U.S. Mail.

The maximum penalty for Ellis’s crimes could be five years in federal prison, with a sentencing hearing scheduled for July 30, 2020. Ellis’s guilty plea marks the culmination of a four-year campaign of harassment against a victim residing in Hillsborough County.

According to court documents, Ellis used a variety of means to harass the victim, including text messages, photographs, videos, and mailings. He threatened to decapitate and set the victim on fire, and he regularly made racially and sexually charged statements in the text messages, including sending sexually explicit images of himself.

Ellis also used the U.S. Mail to harass the victim and the victim’s friends and family. On one occasion, he mailed a package to the victim’s home containing a dead rat and black rose. The package was a particularly disturbing example of Ellis’s cruel and calculating behavior.

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Ellis’s home in Indianapolis and recovered a handwritten note containing the names and addresses of the victim and the victim’s family and friends. The note was a stark reminder of the level of planning and organization that went into Ellis’s campaign of harassment.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lisa M. Thelwell and Daniel George.

Ellis’s guilty plea is a stark reminder that the U.S. Mail is not a safe or private means of communication. His crimes are a disturbing example of the dangers of harassment and intimidation, and a warning to those who would use such tactics against others.

As the case moves towards sentencing, the victim and their loved ones can finally begin to heal and move on from the trauma inflicted by Ellis’s actions.

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