2-2-2011 New York:
The plaintiffs — the boy's parents and their three children, including the boy — are identified only by initials in the lawsuit filed Jan. 24 in United States District Court.
The defendants include Ontario County, the Victor Central School District, the Ontario County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Phil Povero, Deputy Everett E. Roach, a resource officer in the school district, and Jeff Onze, a teacher in the school district.
The suit accuses the Sheriff's Office and the school district of negligent training and supervision of employees. The plaintiffs claim they suffered emotional distress, trauma, embarrassment and humiliation.
"As a direct result of the concerted actions of the Victor Central School District staff and continued media attention, the family, the accused boy and at least one victim were identified," according to the suit.
"Negative community reaction to the accusations placed the physical and emotional safety of all plaintiffs at risk," according to the 21-page suit.
The Democrat and Chronicle has never published the names of the boy, his parents or siblings, or any of the victims in the case.
According to the suit, high school teacher Jeff Onze sent messages from his school district e-mail account encouraging residents to call the Ontario County Attorney's Office, Victor Supervisor Jack Marren and the judge handling the boy's case to express outrage that the boy was allowed to remain at his parents' home, in a residential neighborhood, and that the boy might not be punished adequately.
On June 2, the boy confessed to three counts of second-degree sexual abuse, involving girls under 14. He was given two years probation, including 12 months at a residential treatment facility with 24-hour supervision.
The boy "could have benefited from a community-based treatment in the absence of public hostility," but instead was sent away from his family to a residential facility, the suit claims.
The plaintiffs claim they are still being harassed, including calls to police claiming they are failing to supervise their son even though he is actually at the court-mandated treatment facility. Because of "unbearable teasing and ostracism" the boy's sister was forced to leave Victor High School and enroll in a private school.
"The public attention generated by the media and gossip amongst (school) employees resulted in stigma and isolation of the entire family," the suit says.
The family has put their home up for sale and they plan to move away from the school district, according to the suit.
Ontario County Attorney John W. Park said the suit has not been served on any county offices or employees and he has no comment. Victor school district officials, and Onze, also said they have not been served and have no comment. ..Source.. Bennett J. Loudon • Staff writer
February 2, 2011
Parents of boy who admitted sex abuse file lawsuit
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3 comments:
You have to go to the source article to discover that the boy who "offended" was 12 at the time of the offense. His offenses were committed against girls "under 14". Because names and specific ages are not cited in this article (in order to protect the identity of the victims) we don't know how old these "under 14" girls actually were. The response of the community (who apparently knows the names and ages of the girls involved in this case) has been quite severe for a 12 year old. However, based upon the exclusive information given in this article it's possible that this 12 year old boy was playing doctor or whatever with girls his own age or maybe even girls who were older than him (between 12 and 14) which resulted in his "crime". My point is that without them revealing more details in this case/article it makes absolutely no sense at all. All of this protectionary balderdash only heightens the malice and vitriol against the perpetrator. The outrage is coming to a head in many individual states and will eventually have to be dealt with at the national level via the Supreme Court regarding many specific issues involving the whole Sex Offender brouhaha. In the meantime we all must remain patient and toe the line.
This is exactally what happens when RSO's names and addresses are make public, in the name of "Public Safety". Those closest to the RSO become public parihas, are harrassed, ridiculed, and ostracized from society because of their association to the RSO. This is one of the effects that we consider "Crule and Unusual Punishment".
Here it's the family of an offender labeled a sex offender, but RSO's themselves who are harassed or threatened by ignorant community members need to start suing the harassers and filing criminal charges against them en masse. If someone's harassing you, call 911 and tell the operator the person is trespassing and threatening you and won't leave. (Caveat, only do this if they're ACTUALLY doing it. Don't ever lie to 911 or the police.) When the police get there, don't let them brush you off. You are a law-abiding citizen who needs to file a police report against a criminal trespasser making violent threats, and they are required by law to go through the whole process if you insist.
Suing is an uphill battle, and the more evidence in your favor (security cameras are awesome) the better, but if you can pull it off seeing/hearing your opponent's lawyer ASK you to settle is the most satisfying feeling of vindication. Civil suits are not as hard as people think, they are just time consuming and require you to keep your papers organized. The most important thing you have to remember is to never back down. Even if you go to a jury trial and you don't win any money, you have still forced the harasser to expend a huge amount of resources on attorney's fees, time off work, etc. That alone will impact them.
Nearly every state SO website says right on the front page that it is a crime to use the information to harass or commit a crime against a registrant. Put that notice to good use. Society right now is being a bully, and we are being the wimpy kid. When the wimpy kid breaks the bully's nose, the abuse stops.
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