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Oyster-Adam teacher arrested
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Anonymous
Why the anger and sarcasm? There are no guarantees in life. But when anything bad happens, I always try to learn something. I ask if there might be any opportunity to fine-tune anything for next time. Don't you do that? |
Anonymous
Maybe you should re-read this post: (And check yourself with the sarcasm ... maybe you don't understand how you sound) I am the PP who was a former prosecutor. In between preliminary hearings and trial (except for a few quick blips after grand jury and any important pretrial hearings), cases typically fall from the media's radar. It's one of the reasons defendants waive preliminary hearings--it tends to result in less press coverage (because less information is made publicly available at this stage). And remember, the media's job is to simply report the facts, not trash the guy. He is, after all, "innocent until proven guilty." Also, my heart breaks for the families who have been victimized. Every other parent out there should be saying "but for the grace of God, there go I," and not Monday morning quarterbacking the parents, staff, and admin at OA. No one would have known. This is always, always what happens. Child molestation is a hidden epidemic. These predators are very, very good at what they do, and many are never caught. In fact, there is probably another parent out there reading this message whose child is also being abused by another adult, and they have no idea. That is the terrifying thing. It doesn't just happen to "bad parents" or "oblivious people". It cuts across race and socioeconomic status. So, support the current OA families. Long days lie ahead for them as they work to get their children past this. They need your support. |
Anonymous
You aren't the PP I had issue with, are you? I agreed with you before, and I agree with 99% of your above post, especially the fact that CHILD MOLESTATION is a HIDDEN EPIDEMIC. Thank you. Do you think Dr. Julie Lopez is on the right track with her work? I googled her because I didn't know of her. |
Anonymous
What are you saying? That 31 year old Pena just happened to fall in love with this particular 9 year old and send him a nude photo? I'm sorry, but I have to call you out on this. It's this kind of magical thinking that permits child sexual abuse to perpetuate. This is not a momentary lapse in judgment. Just because you have not heard of other victims does not mean they do not exist. Maybe they will come forward, maybe they won't. But to think he started at age 31 with this one kid...that's just not likely. But people who want to believe it was a one-time, momentary lapse in judgment? Very, very common. It's one of the reasons Catholic priests who abused were permitted to remain active. |
Anonymous
| PS. I am the former prosecutor who posted upthread. I have literally never seen a child sexual assault case where the perpetrator had NEVER had another victim. Even young defendants had often assaulted siblings, cousins, etc., before the victim in the case at issue. There's a lot of evil in the world, so I'm sure there are adults who start offending late in life and get caught the first time...but they are rare. Ratre enough that if you want to protect children, you shouldn't give the benefit of the doubt of "one time thing." |
Anonymous
Exactly. And this guy was so brazen he actually touched the child in his classroom while class was in session. Not the mark of a late bloomer crossing a line he'd never crossed before. |
Anonymous
I am in full agreement with the above poster and the former prosecutor. Moreover, does anyone believe the child wasn't being assaulted by Pena during the beach vacations? |
Anonymous
You're a FORMER prosecutor (you claim) but have such limited reading ability? That was presented as one option. The truth is that until Pena confesses more, or others come forward, we will never know. The bottom line is that this possibility of years of child molestation and victims spanning decades is just conjecture and seems to be some people's way of trying to flame the fire because they take pleasure in the idea of wanting a like able person being taken down, want a reason to criticize the school, are just bored and in need of gossip. At this time families should focus on healing/protecting their own families and being more vigilant instead of blaming the school and worrying about how the media addresses the issue. |
Anonymous
It actually doesn't surprise me, sadly. If you read any of the threads about the pedophile at Beauvoir, there were parents that were still defending him even after he was at the top of the FBI's most wanted list. |
Anonymous
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I can assure you that no OA parent wrote in support of GP after he admitted guilt. The letters referred to were written either BEFORE he admitted to the deed. Or in previous years. The parents are not that heartless or stupid.
So let's stop bringing that up. |
jsteele
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That's strange. I've read all those threads and don't recall any such thing. |
Anonymous
I sure do. I distinctly remember a post where a parent said something along the lines of, yes, it was really awful what Eric did, blah blah, but he had a way of understanding children that was really extraordinary.... Not a direct quote, obviously, but I am not motivated enough to search through all the threads. But I remember being pretty horrified. |
Anonymous
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Unfortunately, as I am processing this horrible event as a parent of a child in his class, my simple Wikipedia search of "child grooming" rings eerily familiar. So, so sad. (I don't know if he has done this before, my intuition say's no, but I can't deny the definition below knowing some of the true facts).
Child Grooming This is done to gain the child's trust as well as the trust of those responsible for the child's well-being. Additionally, a trusting relationship with the family means the child's parents are less likely to believe potential accusations. In the case of sexual grooming, child pornography images are often shown to the child as part of the grooming process. To establish a good relationship with the child and the child's family, child groomers might do several things. For example, they might take an undue interest in someone else’s child, to be the child's "special" friend to gain the child's trust. They might give gifts or money to the child for no apparent reason. They may show pornography—videos or pictures—to the child, hoping to make it easy for the child to accept such acts, thus normalizing the behavior. They may simply talk about sexual topics. These are just some of the methods a child groomer might use to gain a child's trust and affection to allow them to do what they want. Hugging and kissing or other physical contact, even when the child does not want it, can happen. To the groomer, this is a way to get close. They might talk about problems normally discussed between adults, or at least people of the same age. Topics might include marital problems and other conflicts. They may try to gain the child’s parents’ trust by befriending them, with the goal of easy access to the child. The child groomer might look for opportunities to have time alone with the child. This can be done by offering to babysit. The groomer may invite the child for sleepovers. This gives them the opportunity to sleep in the same room or even the same bed with the child. Actions such as online communication have been defended by suspected offenders using the so-called 'fantasy defense', in which those accused argue that they were only expressing fantasies and not plans of future behavior. In the U.S., case law draws a distinction between those two and some people accused of 'grooming' have successfully used this defense. |
Anonymous
Unless you work for the DC government with unusual access to this information, you don't have a clue. So please stop your silliness. |
Anonymous
As a parent who had a child in the offender's class-- in fact in the class when he was committing the offense to which he confessed-- I suggest that until you've had your child ask you "how do I know who I'm supposed to trust anymore" you stop ascribing petty, middle school behavior to another parent who has had to answer that question. I would love the luxury of being bored instead of worried sick that my child witnessed something and is suppressing it. I would love for this to be abstract enough that I could consider this person "likable." This is someone who was in contact with my child daily for ten months, during which he was sexually abusing a child in the same room. This school is our community. It is where my child has grown from ages 5-11, where we've made friends, where we've seen wonderful children develop and learn and be blessed with mostly phenomenal teachers, and where I sincerely hoped my child would not have to learn that sometimes trusted adults do despicable things to little kids. The school has handled this pretty well other than the initial failure to communicate, and the teachers did a great job in particular of moving forward in quite unfamiliar territory knowing both students and parents were in shock. Calling this criminal what he is does not equal criticizing the school. However, because of what this awful person did, the school is the scene of the worst thing that has happened to anyone my child knows. That can't change. He did that. I can't get my head around the idea that anyone who has confessed to touching students in his own classroom and sending pictures to a 10-year-old is "likable" by any definition, or that anyone behind bars for child sexual abuse could be "brought down." There's not a whole lot of real estate below where he is. Let's all pray together that there are no more victims. Unfortunately that is unlikely. Fortunately he'll never be able to hurt another student. |