Park Ranger Accused of Extorting Sex and Money from Gay Men
Houston prosecutors claim Joey Ellis threatened men with arrest unless they paid him or performed sexual acts on him.
Joey Lamar Ellis, a Houston urban park ranger, was accused of abusing his authority to target gay men at local parks by threatening to arrest them unless they paid him money or performed sexual acts on him.
The 33-year-old was charged with “official oppression” in June for allegedly accusing a person inside a car parked at Cullen Park of attempting to engage in illicit behavior.
Although Ellis wasn’t on duty, he was wearing his ranger uniform and driving a city vehicle, reports Houston CBS affiliate KHOU.
The victim in that incident, Joshua Beede, told Houston-based ABC affiliate KTRK that he was asleep in his car when Ellis knocked on the window and threatened to arrest him if he didn’t pay him or take off his clothes. Beede claims Ellis made it known he had a gun on his person.
According to KHOU, Ellis threatened to arrest Beede unless he stripped naked, confessed to a crime he didn’t commit, and paid Ellis $300. Beede gave Ellis $20 in cash and another $200 through Cash App.
Prosecutors claim Ellis also attempted to enlist Beede in using gay dating apps to lure other men to the park and entrap them to extort money from them. Beede said he went along with Ellis’s demands until he found a chance to escape and call 911.
After Ellis was charged, the Houston Parks and Recreation Department removed him from its work schedule and said it would mount its own investigation into his alleged behavior.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Smith said that, since Ellis’s initial arrest, more victims have come forward, resulting in an additional charge of official oppression and a charge of sexual assault. That sexual assault charge also carries a hate crime enhancement due to the belief that he targeted victims based on their real or perceived sexual orientation.
Smith claims Ellis would troll parks looking for men and, without evidence, accuse them of engaging in crimes, promising not to arrest them if they paid him.
A second victim claims that, in April, after an early morning workout in Cullen Park, Ellis accused him of trespassing. Ellis threatened the man with arrest, forced him to pull down his pants, and gave him a choice: either perform oral sex on the former ranger or pay him in order to avoid arrest. The victim claims he gave Ellis $260.
That second victim said he encountered Ellis in the park again a few weeks later and was given the same choice, but escaped to his car and fled, with Ellis in pursuit, although he was eventually able to lose him on the highway. The man later filed a report with Houston police after hearing of Ellis’s June arrest.
A third victim claims Ellis allegedly threatened to have his car towed from Memorial Park unless he paid Ellis or performed oral sex on him. Lacking sufficient money, the victim performed oral sex on the former park ranger, according to prosecutors.
“He’s showing up at these parks where he’s not assigned to work. But he’s showing up to these other locations where he’ll find a single male or maybe two males, approach them, and coerce them into either performing a sexual act or giving him money,” Smith told KTRK. “We do believe that this defendant is targeting these individuals because of their…sexuality.”
Ellis’s defense attorney, Ryan Fremut said his client denies the charges against him.
“Mr. Ellis has no criminal history,” Fremut told KTRK. “He appears to be a very good and respected man. He has a very close family network, and he’s denying these allegations wholeheartedly.”
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