Vallejo police officer threatened ex-girlfriend’s life, court records allege

VALLEJO – A Vallejo police officer who was arrested last week allegedly sent threatening text messages to an ex-girlfriend and called her repeatedly, including 27 times in one day, as she repeatedly blocked social media accounts and email addresses connected to him, court records allege.

The woman, a nurse who the Vallejo Sun is choosing not to identify, was granted a restraining order against Vallejo police Officer Ronald Dupree on Feb. 16. 

Dupree was arrested by Oakland police in Richmond on Feb. 14 on suspicion of felony domestic violence, threats and stalking, but was released from jail without charges on Feb. 15. As of Friday, he still had not been charged by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, which declined to comment on the case this week.

The court records include screenshots of text messages allegedly from Dupree threatening the woman. One message said, “If you ever get a restraining order against me I will have your nurse license stripped nationwide.” 

“You should’ve died a long time ago,” another said. “I hope calling Ronnie job finally ran him away from you.” 

According to a police report included in court records, Oakland police Officer Kristen Melendy met with the victim at Oakland police headquarters on Feb. 13. The woman told Melendy that she and Dupree had been dating but broke up in August last year. While they were still dating, Dupree told her that if she ever broke up with him, “he knows how to bury a body or hide a body,” according to the report.

Since they broke up, Dupree continuously contacted her trying to rekindle their relationship. Last December, the woman took her dog to an emergency vet and let Dupree know what was going on. Dupree paid the vet bill and told her it was fine, but a few weeks later demanded that the woman either pay him back or resume their relationship, according to the police report. 

From mid-December until the end of January, Dupree called the woman from blocked numbers 30-70 times per day, according to the report. If she answered, Dupree would try to convince her to get back together. The woman said that at one point while she was drinking with a friend in a bar, Dupree sent her a photo of her at the bar, with the comment, “your friend is more into her phone than she is into you.” 

In February, the woman received a notification that someone had requested a domestic violence report she’d made about a different ex-boyfriend. Shortly after she received the notification, an unknown number sent her a text message that said, “You should have been dead by now for what you did to Ronnie.”

The same day, the woman received messages from three social media accounts that appeared to be connected to Dupree, which she blocked, according to an application for a restraining order. She also received 27 phone calls from a blocked number.

In her request for a restraining order, the woman wrote that Dupree had attempted to call her 153 times from Jan. 4 to Feb. 4.

According to state records, Dupree was hired as a Vallejo police officer in October 2020. He transferred to the Napa Police Department in August, but returned to Vallejo months later. Vallejo police awarded him a medal of courage in April and the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Award for the number of impaired driving arrests he made earlier this year.

Vallejo police spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis said last week that the department is aware of the incident and cooperating with the other agency’s investigation. He would not confirm the name of the officer but said that the officer is on paid leave and it is an “ongoing personnel matter.”