What the Sandusky Verdict Means to Child Sexual Abuse Victims

What the Sandusky Verdict Means to Child Sexual Abuse Victims
By Mai Fernandez Thursday, June 28, 2012

While testifying about the abuse he had experienced, one of Jerry Sandusky’s victims was asked why he had never reported the crime. “Who would believe kids?” he asked. Sandusky is an “important guy.” So like his fellow witnesses—and so many other child sexual abuse victims—he didn’t tell a soul.

Sandusky’s 45-count conviction represents a watershed for all victims of child sexual abuse.

Sandusky’s victims—whose pained, halting, and strikingly similar testimony led to the conviction—described how pedophiles prey on children who trust and look up to them. The jury believed those victims, and they can now begin healing and rebuilding their lives.

The conviction frees them from the troublesome media label “alleged victims,” which reflected the judge’s stated view that there were no victims until a conviction was achieved. As state and federal law confirm, there ARE victims prior to conviction in a particular case, and they have rights in the criminal justice system.

As victims exercised their rights in this case, their suffering was recognized and their accounts of Sandusky’s grievous crimes were validated….

The Sandusky case, as well as the Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal, has suggested the true scope of child sexual abuse. Studies show that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys are victims of sexual abuse, and an estimated 78,188 cases of reported child sexual abuse occurred in 2003.

Yet we know that the vast majority of these crimes are not reported; the numbers don’t begin to reflect the actual prevalence of child sexual abuse.

The Sandusky case also exposed the methods by which predators establish power over children’s lives. They systematically “groom” their victims, often showering them and their families with gifts and special favors, such as football tickets, access to star players, and camping trips. Sandusky preyed on children served by Second Mile, the charity he founded to help disadvantaged youth. Like so many predators, Sandusky built a reputation as a benefactor—rather than a destroyer—of youth. http://www.thecrimereport.org/viewpoints/2012-06-what-the-sandusky-verdict-means-to-child-sexual-abus

In the Wake of Jerry Sandusky To prevent child abuse, something has to change. So why won’t it?

In the Wake of Jerry Sandusky  To prevent child abuse, something has to change. So why won’t it?

BY Barry Nolan 6/25/2012
After the verdict came down in the Jerry Sandusky case, Linda Kelly, the Pennsylvania State Attorney General, stood before the assembled press and said something very important. She said: “One of the recurring themes of the witness’ testimony was … ‘Who would believe a kid?’”

Yes indeed, who would take the word of a mere child over that of a beloved coach like Jerry Sandusky about sexual abuse? Even though we know that such terrible crimes are far too common and the numbers are staggering, we can’t believe it. So, from 2005 to 2006 about 135,300 children were sexually abused.

Who would take the word of a child against a respected adult even though we know that in up to 93 percent of the time, the child knows his abuser and as many as 47 percent of the perpetrators are family members.

Who would take the word of a child even though in the vast majority of cases the only witness to child sex abuse  is the child?

The ugly truth about child sexual abuse is that we really don’t want to hear about it. And far too much of it happens after an initial complaint about a perpetrator has been made and it’s not investigated thoroughly.

Take the tragic sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, and just imagine how things could have been different if there had been real listening and forceful action early on. There were 10,667 complaints of sexual abuse against 4,392 priests and deacons between 1950 and 2002 and yet no serious or thorough investigation took place. And so the abuse was allowed to continue. Until the Globe’s Pulitzer Prize winning series compelled self-examination and change….

The first child to make a complaint in the Sandusky case came forward 14 years ago. But who was going to believe a kid over Jerry Sandusky? So the complaint was not thoroughly investigated and, tragically, the abuse continued….

Back in 1993, most people simply didn’t want to believe the awful things a kid had to say about what Jackson did behind closed doors. After all, Michael Jackson was a lavishly talented and beloved public figure. But Dimond, and a few others, listened carefully and pursued leads and looked at the evidence. And the awful truth began to come out. The boy in that case would eventually accept a settlement from Jackson that was widely reported to be in the range of $20 million.

I asked her for her thoughts on the bigger picture, the Sandusky case, the scandal in the church, and the Jackson matter. Here is part of what she sent me in an e-mail:

“Pedophiles are really the very person you think they could never be. They are the most charming, personable, charitable, and kid-friendly people you would ever want to meet. They pay their taxes, they go to church, they cloak themselves in acts of charity and they say they just want to help you raise your child by being a positive influence in their lives … Too often detectives believe the perpetrator’s version of events and they are freed to violate again.”
http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/boston_daily/2012/06/25/jerry-sandusky-abuse/

Matt Sandusky details alleged sex abuse by his father, Teen prostitutes rescued, pimps held, in FBI sweep

“He estimated that at least 100,000 minors were victims of child prostitution and trafficking each year….”

NBC exclusive: Matt Sandusky details alleged sex abuse by his father

By Michael Isikoff, NBC News

Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son Matt told police he was sexually molested by his father for years — and once fled in fear from the Sandusky home — during a secret police interview that took place in the middle of his father’s trial for child sex-abuse, according to a copy of the tape obtained by NBC News….

NBC News has exclusively obtained the 29-minute audiotape, which was recorded by police detectives on June 15, four days after the Jerry Sandusky trial began. At the time, the detectives were preparing Sandusky’s son to testify as a surprise prosecution witness at his father’s trial.

For years, Matt Sandusky had publicly stood by his father and even showed up on the first day of the trial, sitting with the rest of the Sandusky family. But after listening to the first day of testimony from a young man known in court documents as “Victim 4,” Matt Sandusky contacted police and volunteered to testify on behalf of the prosecution. The prosecutors’ plan was to use Matt Sandusky as a rebuttal witness if Jerry Sandusky took the stand in his own defense.

It turned out to be a crucial turning point in the Sandusky trial. When Jerry Sandusky learned that his own adopted son was prepared to testify against him, it was a “complete shock,” and it played a big role in his decision not to take the witness stand, according to one of his lawyers, Karl Rominger….

In his interview with police, Matt Sandusky was asked directly why he decided to change his previous denials of abuse and cooperate with police.

“I came forward, I mean, for different reasons,” he said. “But I mean for my family you know so that they can really have closure and see what the truth actually is. And just to right the wrong, honestly, of going to the grand jury and lying.”….http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/26/12417694-nbc-exclusive-matt-sandusky-details-alleged-sex-abuse-by-his-father

Teen prostitutes rescued, pimps held, in FBI sweep
Lily Kuo Reuters June 25, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Seventy-nine teenagers held against their will and forced into prostitution were rescued at hotels, truck stops and storefronts in a three-day sweep of sex-trafficking rings across the United States, law enforcement officials said on Monday.

The FBI said 104 alleged pimps were arrested during sting operations in 57 U.S. cities including Atlanta, Sacramento, and Toledo, Ohio. The operation lasted between Thursday and Saturday and involved state and local authorities as well as the FBI….

One of the minors recovered in the sweep reported being involved in prostitution from the age of 11, according to Kevin Perkins, acting executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch.

He said the cases were not “one-off” incidents, but evidence of “criminal enterprises” that lure minors in, often through social media, hold them against their will through threats to them or their families, and then traffic them through different U.S. cities.

Child prostitution is “a problem that happens in all kinds of American cities and it happens to American kids,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children….

He estimated that at least 100,000 minors were victims of child prostitution and trafficking each year but said assessments were hampered due to under-reporting and other data complications….

To date about 2,200 children have been rescued in the program, the FBI said, adding that its figures do not take into account children recovered by other state and local investigations.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-prostitution-childbre85o19h-20120625,0,1822308.story

22 Faces revives ritual sexual abuse controversy

22 Faces revives ritual sexual abuse controversy by Stephen Dark

2012-06-25 ….A new book, Twenty Two Faces: Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-two Multiple Personalities, by retired, Saratoga Springs-based psychiatrist Judy Byington, tells the story of Hill, who, according to Byinton, was the victim of sexual assaults by both her father and by neighborhood boys. Hill told Byington that on June 21, 1965, in Garden Grove, Calif., she was tortured on an altar and forced to watch the murder of a 6-year-old by a satanic coven….

Subsequently, Hill was subjected to mind control experiments which resulted, Byington says, in Hill having 22 personalities. Hill moved to Utah County and ended up spending a year in the Utah State Hospital under the care of Weston Whatcott between 1984 and 1985. In a press release by the book’s publisher, Whatcott acknowledges that Hill’s multiple personalities were a result of childhood trauma, “namely repeated sexual assaults coupled with ritual abuse.”

Byington says Hill “really wanted her story told.”  Byington drew on journals Hill and some of her other personalities kept from when she was 5 to 24. “We could all be multiple personalities if we have gone through all the trauma that these people have gone through,” Byington says.”Children under tremendous torture, their minds can separate into different personalities.”

Hill went to the FBI looking for the parents of the child she had seen killed, Byington says. While an FBI agent who looked at Hill’s medical records told Byington that there was confirmation that horrendous torture had occurred, “he wouldn’t open up a case for her.”

Byington has also investigated local satanic covens in Utah, she says, and talked to a special-investigations unit at the Utah Attorney General’s office in 2006 on ritual abuse cases. “”It’s still very much of a problem,” Byington says. “These covens are very active and it’s very difficult to prove what’s going on.”
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/blog-24-7837-22-faces-revives-ritual-sexual-abuse-controversy.html

Jerry Sandusky Juror Joshua Harper Discusses Deliberations While Victims’ Families Talk, Pediatrician Pleads Guilty To Child P_rn Charge

Jerry Sandusky Juror Joshua Harper Discusses Deliberations While Victims’ Families Talk 06/25/2012

….Victims’ families and members of the jury have come forward to talk more about the monumental verdict that — if it holds up despite an expected appeal — will likely lead to a sentence of more than 400 years for Sandusky.

….The two-week trial was emotionally wrenching for some of the jury’s five men and seven women, including one who appeared to cry Friday night.

But one juror described the satisfaction that came from convicting a predator who abused disadvantaged boys for years.

“It feels good to expose something that was covered up,” said Joshua Harper, 31, a Penn State alumnus, according to the Washington Post. “It’s a statement that there needs to be accountability and change. It’s the beginning of our time to heal.”

Sandusky’s lack of outward emotion as the verdict was read convinced Harper that the jury reached the right conclusion.

“That was just confirmation again,” Harper told NBC’s Today show. “You know I looked at him during the reading of the verdict, and just the look on his face, no real emotion, just kind of accepting, you know, because he knew it was true.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/jerry-sandusky-juror-josh_n_1625166.html

Todd Parrilla, Pediatrician, Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charge
HARTFORD, Conn. 06/25/12

A Connecticut pediatrician has admitted that he possessed more than 100,000 images and videos of child pornography, federal authorities said Monday

The U.S. Attorney’s office said 48-year-old Todd Parrilla of Stonington pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Hartford to receipt and distribution of child pornography. Parrilla had a pediatric practice in southeastern Connecticut.

“This defendant possessed and distributed tens of thousands of images and videos portraying the sexual abuse of children,” said U.S. Attorney David Fein. “This is a heinous crime. That it was committed by a pediatrician, whose profession is committed to the well-being of children, makes it especially disturbing.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/todd-parrilla-pediatrician-child-porn_n_1625197.html

Penn State signals it wants to settle Sandusky cases – University may have to pay millions to victims of sexual abuse by former coach, Analysis: Number of victims persuaded Sandusky jurors in ‘he said, he said’ case

Penn State signals it wants to settle Sandusky cases – University may have to pay millions to victims of sexual abuse by former coach
By Ian Simpson  6/24/2012

BELLEFONTE, Pennsylvania  — With former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky  now behind bars for child sexual abuse, the university has given an unusual signal that it wants to wrap up civil suits as fast as possible, legal observers said on Saturday.

Shortly after Sandusky, 68, was convicted late on Friday on 45 counts of sexual abuse, Pennsylvania State University invited victims to try to resolve claims against the school.
“The purpose of the program is simple – the university wants to provide a forum where the university can privately, expeditiously and fairly address the victims’ concerns and compensate them for claims relating to the university,” it said in a statement.

Sandusky’s conviction clears a hurdle for potentially big-ticket civil suits since abuse victims suing the school now can point to a crime that was committed, the observers said.
At least two civil suits have been filed already against the school, both in Philadelphia. A filing by Sandusky’s lawyers last month put the number of potential victims at almost 20….
A former assistant coach, Mike McQueary, testified he told late head coach Joe Paterno, Curley and Schultz about a 2001 incident in which Sandusky abused a boy in a Penn State locker room.

Curley and Schultz face charges of perjury and failure to report suspected abuse in an alleged cover-up of the incident. “Schultz and Curley will tell us a lot more about what Penn State knew”  about Sandusky’s pedophilia, Kennerly said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47935946/vp/47934464#47934464

Analysis: Number of victims persuaded Sandusky jurors in ‘he said, he said’ case
By Wes Oliver, Special to msnbc.com  ANALYSIS  6/23/12

Friday night was not a good night for the Penn State community but you couldn’t tell it from the atmosphere outside the courtroom.  Jerry Sandusky was convicted of the overwhelming majority of the child sex abuse counts of against him. The verdict revealed that the jury believed the account of every of major witness the prosecution presented. There were only three verdicts of ‘not guilty’ in the 48 counts Sandusky faced….

The eight witnesses demonstrated a range of credibility. Ultimately the jury concluded that all of the victims were credible but carefully examined their testimony to see if it established the crimes alleged. It is entirely possible that no single victim could have prevailed in the he-said, he-said conflict in this case. But the victims reinforced one another. The odds that they were all lying were too remote for the jury to conclude anything other than they were all telling the truth.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/23/12370562-analysis-number-of-victims-persuaded-sandusky-jurors-in-he-said-he-said-case

Charles Lee Bergeron Molested Boys, Told Them He Needed Their S_men To Live

Charles Lee Bergeron Molested Boys, Told Them He Needed Their Semen To Live
The Huffington Post  By Rebecca Ballhaus 06/22/2012

In a disgusting ploy to lure young boys in to molest them, Charles Lee Bergeron Sr. told them he “needed their semen to live,” prosecutors said.

Bergeron was sentenced Wednesday to 120 years in prison for sexually abusing young boys, said prosecutor Cynthia Guillory, according to the Houston Press.

Bergeron would invite young boys into his home, drug or sedate them, and then perform oral sex on them. One victim, who is now 23, told KPLC-TV that Bergeron gave him alcohol with Somas and Xanax, heavy sedatives.

Another victim, who was 13 at the time, said Bergeron gave him oral sex several times, both at his house and at a Westlake, La. cemetery.

Bergeron, 80, was charged with 12 counts of oral sexual battery, 12 counts of indecent behavior, and one count of sexual battery in December. He pleaded guilty to all charges.

Bergeron was previously convicted of molestation in 2000, and he was already in prison serving a 10-year sentence for failing to register as a sex offender when further victims came forward.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/22/charles-lee-bergeron-molested-boys_n_1618842.html

Survivorship Ritual Abuse Webinar: “Surviving Your Therapist” Saturday, July 14

forwarded with permission
Upcoming Webinar:

Saturday, July 14
12:00 noon Pacific Time
Presenter: Alikina
“Surviving Your Therapist”

As survivors, many of us feel the need for help from a mental health professional from time to time. Yet too often, attempts to get help seem to sputter along, or even fail all together. Most therapists are caring people with a sincere desire to help, and most clients who seek professional assistance are doing their best to explain their needs and ask for that help.

If most people are mostly doing their best most of the time, why are so many clients left with the feeling that they aren’t getting what they need from therapy, and why do so many therapists appear to be dealing with a completely different person from you, the lady or gentleman sitting in their office?

Often, the answer is that therapists have not experienced severe trauma and are speaking from a ‘healthy lifetime’ point of view, overlaid with specific ideas, theories, and requirements of their profession. Meanwhile, survivors of severe, chronic abuse are speaking from the point of view of people who have rarely, if ever, experienced a safe, content lifestyle, and while many of us are very experienced in seeing therapists, we still don’t know what the heck those therapists are thinking.

The goal of this webinar is to provide the client with some insight into the mindset of the therapist (and therapists with insight into the mindset of the client), so that clients and therapists can communicate effectively.

Alikina has experience as both a survivor and a therapist. She grew up in a household that was emotionally, spiritually, physically, sexually, and ritually abusive. She has a BA in psychology and will finish her Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling this year. Alikina has been seeing clients in a community counseling center for over a year. One of her current projects focuses on collecting terminology that is often misunderstood between therapists and clients.

REGISTRATION
Registration closes Thursday evening July 12, 2012

To reserve a space in the webinar, e-mail Shamai at shamai@survivorship.org   and give her this information:

1. Your name
2. The webinar you wish to attend: “Surviving Your Therapist”
3. Amount and method of payment  (check, PayPal, money order)
4. Your preferred e-mail address (so we can send you instructions)
5. The name you will be using for the webinar. (This does not have to be your real name or your message board screen name.)

You will receive a confirmation email immediately and an invitation link and instructions after the registration closes

COST
Webinars are on a sliding scale from $50.00 to full scholarship (while we offer full scholarships for webinars please consider paying whatever you are able to. Even $5 will help to cover the cost of the webinar provider). Please remember to factor in the cost of the telephone call if you don’t have a computer headset. The PayPal button is near the bottom of the page at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html

If you wish to pay by check please send it to: Survivorship, Family Justice Center, 470 27th Street, Oakland, CA 94612.

PAST WEBINARS
Survivorship members may listen to past webinars in the members’ section.
We strive to present all webinars in our archives, and sometimes, for technical reasons, we are unable to.

For information on joining Survivorship, go to http://www.survivorship.org/about/membership.html

Complete details on all our webinars are at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html

Jury finds Jerry Sandusky guilty on dozens of child sex abuse charges, Philadelphia Priest Trial: Jury Reaches Split Verdict In Case Of Monsignor William Lynn

Jury finds Jerry Sandusky guilty on dozens of child sex abuse charges
By the CNN Wire Staff June 22, 2012

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania (CNN) — Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty Friday on 45 of 48 counts related to sexual abuse of boys over a 15-year period.

Jurors delivered the verdict around 10 p.m. after deliberating for about 21 hours. There were convictions related to all 10 sexual abuse victims, with the three not-guilty verdicts applying to three different individuals….

During closing arguments, prosecutors described the ex-Nittany Lions defensive coordinator as a pedophile who preyed on victims using a charity he founded for troubled children, repeatedly abusing young boys in his care.

Sandusky, 68, had pleaded not guilty to the 48 charges of child sex abuse that spanned a 15-year period….

After a week of testimony, during which time witnesses graphically described sexual encounters with Sandusky that they said occurred durijng their boyhoods, jurors made their decision without ever having heard from Sandusky on the witness stand….

Eight young men testified, often in disturbingly graphic detail, of how Sandusky forced them to engage in sexual acts in various places, including showers in the Penn State coaches’ locker room, hotel rooms and the basement of his home.

One told jurors that Sandusky — whom he met, like many of the accusers, through The Second Mile foundation that the ex-coach founded — had threatened him if he told others about the abuse. Another said Sandusky warned him that he might send him home from a trip to Texas, where they’d gone to watch a Penn State bowl game.

The defense challenged the accusers’ timetable, questioned the various allegations and called multiple character witness to defend Sandusky’s stellar reputation in the community. http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/22/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-trial/index.html

Philadelphia Priest Trial: Jury Reaches Split Verdict In Case Of Monsignor William Lynn
By MARYCLAIRE DALE 06/22/12
PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic church official was convicted of child endangerment but acquitted of conspiracy Friday in a landmark clergy-abuse trial, making him the first U.S. church official branded a felon for covering up abuse claims.

Monsignor William Lynn helped the archdiocese keep predators in ministry, and the public in the dark, by telling parishes their priests were being removed for health reasons and then sending the men to unsuspecting churches, prosecutors said.

Lynn, 61, served as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, mostly under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua….

Lynn had faced about 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted of all three counts he faced – conspiracy and two counts of child endangerment. He was convicted of only a single endangerment count, which carries a possible 3 1/2- to seven-year prison term.

The jury could not reach a verdict for Lynn’s co-defendant, the Rev. James Brennan, who was accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy in 1999.

Despite Lynn’s acquittal on the conspiracy charge, the trial exposed how deeply involved the late cardinal was in dealing with accused priests.

Bevilacqua had the final say on what to do with priests accused of abuse, transferred many of them to new parishes and dressed down anyone who complained, according to testimony. He also ordered the shredding of a 1994 list that Lynn prepared, warning that the archdiocese had three diagnosed pedophiles, a dozen confirmed predators and another 20 possible abusers in its midst.

Church lawyers turned over a surviving copy of the list days after Bevilacqua died….

With the verdict, after 13 days of deliberations, jurors concluded that prosecutors failed to show that Lynn was part of a conspiracy to move predator priests around.

The jury, however, did find that Lynn endangered the victim of defrocked priest Edward Avery, who pleaded guilty before trial to a 1999 sexual assault. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/22/philadelphia-priest-trial_n_1619355.html

Sandusky’s adopted son now says he was molested, too

Sandusky’s adopted son now says he was molested, too
Jun 21, 2012

Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son, Matt Sandusky, said through his attorney today that he met with prosecutors this week to say for the first time that he is a molestation victim of his adoptive father, the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News reported .
Matt Sandusky, 33, was adopted as an adult by the former Penn State assistant football coach and his wife, Dottie, after having lived with the family as a foster child. He had denied ever being abused by his adopted father until now, according to the report….

In March, The Patriot-News reported that Matt Sandusky had a rocky relationship with his adopted father. His biological mother, Debra Long, told the newspaper that she believed Sandusky had stolen her son from her.

She testified before the grand jury in early 2011 about strange behavior she says she witnessed between her son and Sandusky, the newspaper added. Matt Sandusky testified to the grand jury, too. But Jerry Sandusky’s attorney, Joe Amendola, said at the time that he was not worried about Matt’s testimony, and that Long was making false allegations because she was angry at the Sandusky family.

During testimony at trial, Victim 4 told jurors that on one occasion when Jerry Sandusky began touching him during a shower, Matt Sandusky was present but left the shower when the assault began.  http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-06-21/jerry-sandusky-adopted-son-matt-sandusky-accuses-molested-first-time?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtml