Legally what could I do to get this to stop

June 15, 2008 11:03pm CST
When I was 16 I was raped by a 55 yr old retired fireman. Of course he never even had to go to court and charges never brought due to the fact that he was best buds with most of the town. He said I was lying because I was a poor kid who wanted to try to get his money. Of course I did not. It was devastating and I never pressed it harder because the cops treated me more like a suspect than a victim and I knew that court would be even harder. Not to mention I was afraid. He even called and threatened me on his way to the police station. Now of course it is too late to do anything but that is not my main concern. I am worried about the fact that he enjoys driving down my parents road on a daily basis and wave. Yes, he waves. What the heck!! I now have a 6 yr old who goes to grandmas a lot I worry about. And there are a lot of young children that live near there that are always outside playing. I am so scared that he will do it again. Plus, I find it as pure harassment, but what can I do when he is not actually breaking the law? I thought about knocking on doors to tell people about the child molester who lives but a block or two away but would that get me into any kind of trouble. It is really hard to see the man who took my innocents just drive by and wave like nothing. I wish there was someway to stop him. When this happened over 10 yrs ago it was in the newspaper with his name and that he raped a young teen. A lot of women, about 20, came forward with similar stories. Some from as long as 20 yrs before that. It makes me wonder how many since? I would appreciate any ideas to help detour him from harassing my parents and myself. Thankfully he has no clue where I live or work.
3 responses
• United States
24 Jul 08
Have you contacted any rape counselors in your area, or outside of your area. They often have resources and abilities to get things done that we can't and they will not blow you off because of this age of this incident, esp., if there is proof the he did it to others and a chance that he might do it again.
@goldeneagle (6745)
• United States
18 Jun 08
well you could file a report and possibly get a restraining order, but the sad fact is that as long as he is on public property, and doesn't actually do anything to you or your family, a restraining order isn't worth the paper it is written on. He is free to drive where he chooses and wave at whomever he wants. The police can't really do anything. Some people choose to say that the police WON'T do anything, but being a former officer, I can tell you that as much as the police may want to help you, there is nothing they can do about it legally unless he tries to harm you or your family. What bothers me most about this situation is that if he did this to you and is now acting this way towards your family, how many other people has he done the same thing to? I wish there was something I could tell you that would really help the issue, but unless you are willing to move to a new area all together, I don't know what to tell you...
@callarse1 (4783)
• United States
16 Jun 08
It sounds terrible that he would do it. Too bad you didn't follow through with the criminal charges. Of course you can get a restraining order if you think he's threating you. I'm sorry that no charges happened against him. Pablo