A jury convicted a Geneva County man Thursday of threatening to kill people at a Dothan doctor’s office.
Authorities arrested Douglas Allen Vandergrift, 44, of Black, on Dec. 27, 2007, and charged him with felony making a terrorist threat. Records show he was released from custody about a week later after he posted a $100,000 bond.
Assistant Houston County District Attorney David Atwell said the incident led officials at Southern Bone and Joint Specialists in Dothan to hire off-duty deputies with the Houston County Sheriff’s Office to serve as security at the doctor’s office. Atwell said the extra security was only hired for several days after the threat was made.
Atwell said the jury convicted Vandergrift of making a threatening phone call to a nurse at the doctor’s office.
“He called our victim at Southern Bone and Joint. He called her a bunch of ugly names, and that is harassing communications,” Atwell said. “But then the last thing he said to her was ‘y’all need to get ready because I’m coming down there and killing everybody in the clinic.’ ”
Atwell said it was no longer a harassment issue when a threat was made to kill people. He said the threat was made after Vandergrift was not able to get more prescription pain medication.
“It no longer instills anger, it instills fear,” he said. “Whether he means it or not is irrelevant. The crime is terrorizing the victim, and that’s what he did.”
Attorney Eric Davis, who represented Vandergrift, said the verdict was returned against his client in just under four hours. He said his client was a patient at that doctor’s office.
“I’m disappointed it was anything other than harassment. I think it was overblown,” Davis said. “He said what he said from his home in Black, Alabama. He was pretty much bed ridden due to a back problem at home, and that’s where they arrested him.”
Davis said Vandergrift would remain released on bond until his sentencing hearing in October in front of Circuit Court Judge Larry Anderson. Vandergrift faces one to 10 years in prison for the class C felony crime of making terrorist threats.
“We’re looking for probation, and the minimum sentence,” Davis said.
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