Brothers facing new charges

Court dates latest in long record with police

Brothers Paul, Kenneth, and Damien Ellslager of Westborough, long the focus of local complaints, are facing trials in connection with alleged violent assaults in their hometown and in Framingham.

Paul Ellslager, 28, is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Westborough District Court on assault charges stemming from the alleged beating of a man with a baseball bat in Westborough last October.

Kenneth, 26, and Damien Ellslager, 23, who were also arrested in connection with the fracas, are facing separate allegations that they attempted to strangle a woman in Framingham last month.

All three brothers have records of arrests and convictions throughout Massachusetts, court records show. But Westborough Police Chief Alan Gordon said the alleged baseball bat attack was a particularly troublesome incident.

Since 2002, said Gordon, Westborough police have had run-ins with the brothers. "We had to respond to all the complaints from all the neighbors," he said. "We don't expect things like this. It really taxes our services."

Residents who complained often said they were subsequently harassed by the brothers, Gordon said, but the alleged victims rarely pursued legal action. "People were just beside themselves," he said. "People are afraid of this group because of what they are capable of doing."

Members of the Ellslager family and their lawyers were not available or declined to comment on the charges. Through the Middlesex County Sheriff's Department, Kenneth Ellslager declined a request for an interview.

The October 2007 fight occurred on Cross Street in Westborough around 1 a.m. when a group of people between 18 and 24 years old, leaving a party on nearby South Street, got into a scuffle with the three brothers, their sister, Damalyn, 22, and a friend, T.J.R. Hunt, 19, of Westborough, according to police.

The Ellslagers were outside the apartment where they then lived with their mother and stepfather, Sandra and John Thomas.

William Hendrix, a member of the group leaving the party, said the incident erupted and ended quickly. "They started talking to my buddy, and then all of a sudden, he, my buddy, was on the ground getting his face kicked in," said Hendrix. "Then they came out with baseball bats and then the cops showed up. It was a three-minute thing."

Pierre Langevin of Worcester was seriously injured in the fight and was kept at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester for a few days, said Gordon. "He had some pretty serious facial injuries," the chief said.

Paul Ellslager was charged with two counts of assault and battery with a deadly weapon. His sister and two brothers and Hunt were charged with a single count of assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

The maximum penalty for the charge is 2 1/2 years in jail. If prosecutors seek assault charges in Superior Court, the maximum penalty could be 10 years in prison, court documents said.

Since the fight, the family has moved from Cross Street, Gordon said.

Paul Ellslager posted $2,000 bail and left Westborough, according to court documents. His lawyer, Thomas Giblin of Milford, declined to comment, except to say he doesn't know where Paul is residing. Gordon said he had last heard Paul was living in Western Massachusetts.

Damien and Damalyn Ellslager pleaded guilty to their involvement in the fight. Damien was sentenced to time served, and placed on probation for one year, while Damalyn was sentenced to time served.

Kenneth Ellslager, who posted $200 bail and is scheduled to appear in Westborough District Court on Sept. 12, was in Middlesex County Jail in Cambridge last week, after his arrest in connection with the Framingham case. Damien's name remains on the mailbox at a Proctor Street apartment in Framingham, but his phone is disconnected.

In court documents, Damalyn listed an address at the Extended Stay Deluxe Hotel on East Main Street in Westborough, but the hotel's front desk clerk said she was no longer staying there.

Hunt posted $500 bail and is set to go to court on Sept. 8. His mother, reached by phone, said he had no comment.

On July 11, Kenneth and Damien Ellslager were charged with attempted murder, domestic assault and battery, and disturbing the peace after an alleged assault on Calagh Burridge, 25, at the Proctor Street apartment, said Framingham Police Lieutenant Paul Shastany. Court documents said Burridge is the mother of Kenneth's 6-year-old son.

According to Shastany, Burridge called police at 10:50 p.m. and accused the brothers of attempting to strangle her after she argued with them over the price of a pizza. Burridge's mother, reached by phone, said the family declined to comment.

Kenneth and Damien Ellslager are scheduled to appear in Framingham District Court on Sept. 10. Both face a maximum penalty of 2 1/2 years in jail, said Corey Welford, a spokesman for the Middlesex district attorney's office. Welford said the penalty could be more severe if the case is moved to Superior Court, but prosecutors have not made that decision yet.

Kenneth remains in custody, while Damien was released after posting $500 bail.

Paul Ellslager was involved in a violent incident in another part of the country as well. In February 2006, a gunman shot at Ellslager and his girlfriend, Katie Knudson, 24, as the pair were driving away from Ellslager's job at a taxi company in Fort Myers, Fla., said John Sheehan, spokesman for the Lee County Sheriff's Department in Florida.

Knudson was struck in the head and killed, while Ellslager was wounded and taken to a hospital, Sheehan said. Weeks later, the suspected shooter, Melvin Lewis, was killed in a bar fight.

The sheriff's investigators were not able to prove whether Lewis had fired the shots, or what might have sparked the attack, and they may never solve the case, Sheehan said, since Ellslager has refused to aid the authorities.

"He was a witness who would not cooperate with the investigation," Sheehan said. "He was the prime witness."