curious_mom
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- Joined
- Oct 5, 2005
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- 221
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Thank you Tricia. NOW is the time to start something like this, while the wounds of little Somer's demise are still very raw & fresh!!!
I know this is OT, and long, so feel free to move it to a more appropriate thread, BUT I have to tell what my own experience has been on doing this very thing...
A little over a year ago, I found out one of my own children had been molested as a child. She was 20 when she told me. (please, I'm not going to share more than that, except to say, at this late date, she has been in therapy, moved on with her life, is happy, and does not wish to come back here & deal with placing charges, and I completely understand this). I immediately went & searched court records on the man who was responsible, and there was nothing. Knowing what we know about SO's, I didn't stop there. I went in person to the courthouse, spoke with a clerk there about what I was looking for, and why.
I could not believe her words to me: "I know this man was involved in something several years ago, I remember it clearly". She looked him up, and found nothing either, so she took me back into the record room, and we began searching. As it turned out, this man WAS an offender. He was charged with 6 counts of molesting 5 children, at our local community pool. When we found the records, she took the 1 file that was sealed, she showed me the copier machine, told me to help myself, and she went out of the room locking the door as she went out.
What he did to those children is exactly what he did to mine. He lives less than a mile from me. He plead guilty to 2 charges, in exchange for them dropping the others. He never spent a night in jail. He was told to never frequent the pool again, have no contact with the said children, and that was that. He was not required to register, he was never even assigned a probation officer. This happened in 1991. His lawyer was no other than our own State Senator, who still holds this position today.
In 1994-95, I met him & his family at the community pool. I was close to his mother. We went to church together, where he was a Sunday School teacher, childrens choir leader, and to this day, continues to do these things. He also takes it upon himself to do his own "visitations" during the week, and frequently brings new children into the church, giving them rides himself. Not one time, at the pool, at church, not his mother or sister or father or anybody else ever mention what this man had done in the past, although I've since found out they all knew.
I have been on a rampage every since. I found his picture online on the churches website, got copies of all his charges, made up fliers with all this info on them, and I've saturated our neighborhood and local churches with them. I've contacted all our legislatures, our county attorney, our police dept, state police dept, dcf, anybody & everybody, to find a way to get this registered and someone watching him besides me, all to no avail. I have even called into our local tv station, outing him as best I could, without naming him. His crimes were before Megan's law, therefore VA has decided that these who committed crimes before that time, aren't required to register. WTF? I have been told repeated by our State Le, I can be charged with a crime if I am caught harassing this man. I am not harassing him, I'm INFORMING the public!!!
At one time, I thought I had made headway, as our county attorney made a request to have him registered due to the new guidelines of the National Registry (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/pdfs/final_sornaguidelines.pdf). But in the new guidelines, they give each state the option of how far to go back into public records, and VA chose once again, to only go back to Megan's Law.
I'm mad, I'm hurt, but I'm on a mission, and I will not stop. If I get caught, so be it, I'll go to jail. What I am doing is NOT wrong!!! If I leave my home in a vehicle, I have no choice but to go by this home. I see him almost everyday. I see him out in the yard playing with small children. I see him out in the yard playing with his own small grandchildren. I see him & his mother (who he lives with), having their Wednesday evening church services at their home, and children are everywhere! For goodness sakes, him & his own daughter are a singing duo in our area who travel to many many other churches performing, and even though he is a CONVICTED SO, those public records are STILL not available for public viewing! And what is so sad here, is how many more are there out there in my area whose records have somehow "neglected" to make their way into our public records?
This is why I'm here, and on every other "missing" child thread here. I don't post often, but I read it all. I want every little piece of info I can get my hands on to make our legislatures realize, these don't change! Looking at statistics, I know in my heart of hearts, there are others victims of this man out there, but I can't find them. And I also know, he is going to do this again, but I seem to be the only person who cares. It is so very frustrating, and heart-braking, and hard to run into one stone wall after another. BUT, I will not give up, not as long as I have 1 breathe left in me...
If any of you get together & decide on a strategy, I'm 100% in, and will do whatever it takes, for how ever long it takes. Things just have to change, for the innocent children that cannot defend themselves. The so called "rights" of these should end, the day they choose to ruin the life of a child, end of story!!!
