Dayton area doctor indicted on child pornography charges

(DAYTON, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced today the indictment of Dr. Gregory Ramey on 145 felony charges for possession of child pornography.

Ramey, 70, was identified as the source of electronic downloads of child pornography according to Yost.

“This egregious abuse of the patients’ trust, not to mention the publics’ trust, from a doctor is gut-wrenchingly horrible,” Yost said. “Young children are innocent, sweet and trusting – vulnerably fragile and in need of special protection, said Yost.

Ramey’s activity was reported to the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which notified local authorities.

Ramey’s employer, Dayton Children’s Hospital, was made aware of the investigation, immediately placed him on administrative leave and then terminated him.

The indictment, filed in the Greene County Court of Common Pleas, includes 145 felony charges:
• Illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material (F2), counts 1-90
• Pandering obscenity involving a minor (F4), counts 91-117
• Attempted pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor (F5), counts 118-142

• Tampering with evidence (F3), counts 143-145

Dayton Children’s Hospital released the following statement:

In his professional role, Dr. Ramey was an advocate for children’s mental wellness and frequent speaker on issues of child endangerment and exploitation.  Therefore, we were blindsided by the allegations of inappropriate behavior in his personal life. Nothing in the performance of his professional role created any suspicions. We are shocked and deeply troubled by these allegations, which are in stark contrast to our mission and core values.

To be clear, the charges do not include any activity at Dayton Children’s, nor was any inappropriate material found on or accessed via Dayton Children’s devices.

When notified of the investigation, we placed Dr. Ramey on a leave of absence and suspended all contact with the hospital. Two days later, we terminated Dr. Ramey’s employment. We shared with staff, patients and their families what we could at the time, pending the active investigation. We actively cooperated with authorities during the investigation. We want to thank the Beavercreek Police Department and the Ohio Attorney General’s office for their dedication and their assistance during this difficult time.

We are relentless advocates of protecting our most vulnerable population. There is simply no place for any behavior that exploits children.  We will continue to work diligently on that front.

We also remain committed to improving access to behavioral health services for children. We have named John Duby, MD, chair of the department of pediatrics and vice president of community health, as vice president of behavioral health. We have full confidence that he and the dedicated staff who already do so much for so many children will continue to reinvent the path to mental and behavioral wellbeing for our children.