CONTENT WARNING: This story discusses topics of childhood sexual assault and abuse.
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SILER CITY — Anna Hackney was raised in a household where the family unit was the most loved and trusted entity.
Little did she know it would be a member of her own family who would betray her in the worst way possible: between the ages of 11 and 15, Hackney was sexually and emotionally abused by an uncle.
“As I got older, it definitely made me more uncomfortable, and it definitely made me feel like he targeted me,” Hackney told the News + Record almost a month after her uncle’s sentencing. “I definitely started to realize that what was happening was normal for me, but I needed to find out if it was normal for anyone else.”
That uncle, John Mark Ellington, stepped into Hackey’s life after her parents divorced. Hackney found herself at the home of Ellington and his wife, often on a weekly basis; the two helped to fill in the gaps when needed.
Ellington is a familiar face in Siler City; he worked previously for the Sheriff’s Office and served as a youth minister at his church, Rocky River Baptist Church.
Hackney said while Ellington was out and about in the community doing what many perceive to be good things, behind closed doors, he was sexually abusing her — touching her inappropriately, beginning at age 11 — and, according to Hackney, blaming the various medications he took for his actions.
“In the town’s eyes, he’s never done anything wrong,” Hackney said of Ellington. “As far as people that know him, he is the type of person that you wouldn’t believe would ever do anything like this.”
The abuse continued until Hackney saw Ellington engaged in similar grooming behaviors — special treatment, gift giving, etc. — with her niece. That led to Hackney reaching out to her older sister, Victoria Daggett, asking whether Ellington’s medications would cause him to act inappropriately towards her.
“I truly think she [Hackney] was afraid of the reaction of all of us because she knew the types of relationships we had with him,” Daggett said. “I am a person that believes when somebody has the bravery and the courage to speak out against something that sensitive in nature, I believe them.”
In 2020, five years after the abuse began, Hackney told her sister what had been happening — and then her parents — before telling law enforcement authorities. As a result, Ellington was arrested Mar. 13, 2020, and charged with 23 counts of statutory sex offense with a child by an adult and 23 counts of indecent liberties with a minor.
Hackney said while her family and friends have been overwhelmingly supportive, she said Ellington’s wife and church friends had taken to Facebook to try to discredit Hackney and the assault claims she made.
“He (Ellington) was making Facebook posts leading up to his day … people were commenting, ‘Don’t leave, we’ll miss you,’” Hackney said. “It was very hurtful to see people on Facebook that I knew growing up not believing me.”
Hackney underwent medical examinations and gave her phone to law enforcement for evidence collection as part of the investigation. She said her phone contained hundreds of messages from Ellington on different platforms containing explicit content — sexually-charged messages, photos and more — which likely would’ve come to light if a trial happened.
Ellington, though, pleaded guilty on Nov. 17 to five counts of indecent liberties with a minor.
Neither Hackney nor Daggett, though, believe the sentence Ellington received served justice for what happened: he was sentenced to serve 140 days in the county jail, serving four weeks a year for the next five years. His sentence was the result of a plea deal, which allowed Ellington to receive a lesser punishment for his crimes in exchange for admitting guilt.
Hackney says she never wanted a plea deal in the first place. She wanted to take Ellington to trial; it would have begun on Dec. 5.
The fact that there was no trial frustrated Hackney’s family. The assistant district attorney handling the case, Kayley Taber, emailed Hackney’s family several times after Ellington’s arrest, but Daggett claims her communication wasn’t always consistent.
“There are emails that she (our mom) sent [to Taber] that went unanswered for weeks at a time,” Daggett said. “She wouldn’t tell us about court dates until days before, and my parents all work jobs that you can’t just drop.”
But that wasn’t the main concern for Hackney and her family.
Hackney said after Taber told her she would follow Hackney’s wishes, the district attorney’s office went on to make a plea deal with the defendant’s legal team.
Daggett said in an email sent to her mother, Taber said she wasn’t prepared to move forward with the Dec. 5 trial after just completing a six-week-long murder trial. Taber is also leaving the DA’s office at the end of the year — she’s taking a position in the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office following her unsuccessful bid earlier this year to be Chatham County’s District Attorney.
“She [Taber] said, ‘I appreciate her opinion on this, but we’re [the DA’s office] going to move forward with this plea deal regardless,’” Daggett said. “It was horrible.”
After the plea deal was made, Daggett logged onto Facebook and made a post about how she and her family felt about the outcome of the case, writing: “I hope that now, people who blindly and openly supported Mr. Ellington and chose to try and silence and shame the victim, see him for what he is. A predator. A convicted felon. A sex offender.”
Daggett also wrote that she felt the sentence fell short of what her family considered justice for what Hackney had to endure, and she believed the prosecutor in her sister’s case didn’t make a strong enough effort to get the outcome the family wanted.
Incoming District Attorney Jeff Nieman, who worked alongside Taber in the DA’s office, told the News + Record that plea deals, though, are often made when there’s the possibility of the defendant facing no punishment when evidence points to them.
“It is our goal as an office … that we are able to find a meeting where of what we think is the best outcome for a case,” Nieman said.
Nieman wasn’t the main prosecutor on Ellington’s case, but he said he and other attorneys in the DA’s office thoroughly reviewed the evidence and the charges. He added, too, that victims in cases like this are able to participate in the process, and even voice their opinions.
“We are required to offer the victim an opportunity to be heard about what, if any, plea offer may be made, and … the victim in this case has a right to have input on whether a plea offer is made and what kind of plea offer it is, if one is made,” he said.
Ultimately, though, Nieman said it’s up to the DA’s office and prosecuting attorneys to make the decision to pursue a plea deal. He also said while a majority of cases will follow the victim’s wishes, there are a considerable number of cases where a prosecutor’s office pursue a plea deal instead of a trial, or vice versa.
“I know for a fact that this case, the disposition in this case, was reviewed by multiple members of our office, and there was a consensus that this was the appropriate outcome given all the factors,” Nieman said.
When it comes to the lesser sentence Ellington received, Nieman said there are a few factors that could’ve played into that. He said the guilty plea and Ellington’s lack of a criminal record prior to the charges may have impacted the sentence.
“We have to balance … those possible outcomes at trial,” he said. “On one end there’s not guilty and there’s no punishment, and on the other end, there’s a guilty to all counts with substantially more punishment. We have to assess what are the odds are of those outcomes when we’re reaching plea agreements, and so I’m quite confident that that’s what was being considered in this case.”
Allen Baddour was the presiding judge on the case and the one who passed the 140 day sentence on Nov. 17. Hackney said on sentencing day, Baddour offered Ellington the chance to apologize to her. When he didn’t take the judge up on his offer, Hackney said Baddour had some words for Ellington.
“He [Baddour] gave him [Ellington] three different opportunities to speak to apologize because that’s about the only thing he can do,” Hackney said. “He said [to Ellington], ‘The one thing that you can do, you’re choosing not to.’”
Nieman said he wants to make sure the victim in the case knows the plea deal was made to ensure the offender served time for his crimes instead of running the risk of Ellington not going to jail.
“I want the victim in this case to know that this has nothing to do with the police … or anyone in this office not believing her,” Nieman said. “This is not a decision based upon doubting her. This is a decision based upon all of those considerations and weighing the possibility of possible outcomes.”
Today, two years after reporting Ellington to the authorities, Hackney is in trauma-specific therapy. She still attends weekly sessions with her therapist, Mary Miracle, and says the sessions have helped her learn to cope with the years of abuse she suffered at the hands of her uncle.
Hackney said she wants to help others with what she’s learned from Miracle, and ultimately, she wants to use her voice to help others in situations like hers.
“It is one of my goals to be an advocate for people of all ages who’ve through any kind of sexual trauma — to be available, to be a friend to talk to,” Hackney said. “I think that I could help point people in the right direction, and help get them the help that they need. Plus, I have tips that I’ve gotten from therapy that I would love to share with somebody.”
Daggett has taken to Facebook to encourage victims of abuse to report their offenders to authorities — and to be brave in the pursuit of justice.
“The strength it takes to do that is unimaginable, and no one deserves to be doubted or victim shamed,” Daggett wrote. “The punishment [Ellington] faces pales in comparison to the trauma that the victim endured at his hands and the PTSD that they will continue to battle. But there is peace in knowing that, albeit minimal, there is justice and the truth prevailed.”
What’s next for Hackney?
Now 18 years old, she’s working with her father, Chris Hackney, at his brewery, The Thirsty Skull in Siler City, after her graduation from Burlington Christian Academy. Hackney has dreams of one day owning her own brewery, but she also wants to eventually be involved in activism surrounding child sexual abuse victims — even potentially starting her own nonprofit.
“I want to be a resource for children who can’t afford it,” Hackney said. “Because we realize how therapy is so expensive, and if my family weren’t as fortunate as we are, I wouldn’t be able to have that as an option.”
Hackney has a message for her abuser, as well. She said she won’t let Ellington’s actions define who she is. Rather, she’s determined to prove to him, and those who emboldened him, that she’s a survivor.
“What he did was not does not define me as person, and it will never define me as a person,” she said. “I think that deep down, he knows what he did, and so the fact that he’s not sorry for what he did, I’m not sorry for publicly humiliating him. The dark always comes to light.”
Ellington didn’t respond directly to requests for comment. His attorney, Kellie Mannette, of Thomas Ferguson and Beskind Law Firm, responded “no comment” when contacted for this story.
Reporter Taylor Heeden can be reached at theeden@chathamnr.com.