"Little Red Flags or Big Red Flags": (It doesn't matter. They are all Red Flags)

By Alan Key

Written by a parent who has investigated some of life's darkest crimes. Most of us never talk about the sexual abuse of a child until it is too late. Child sexual abuse is rampant. Studies tell us 16% of all youth in the United States will be sexually assaulted before turning 18. And, a majority of this will occur in their own homes or the homes of other family members. Nearly 90% of the offenders are known to the child. Whether you do the hiring in schools or other youth organizations, or simply work with youth or have them in your home, you have an obligation to learn and recognize the early warning signs of sexual abuse. These are the "Little Red Flags" and the "Big Red Flags" discussed in this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098300388

Book preview

RED FLAGS or BIG RED FLAGS

© 2020 by Alan Key

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN (Print): 978-1-09830-037-1

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-09830-038-8

Contents

Prologue

Chapter I: The Problem

Chapter II: Grooming

Chapter III: The Molester

Chapter IV: The Victim

Chapter V: Red Flags

Chapter VI: Prevention

Chapter VII: The Investigation

Chapter VIII: The Aftermath

Epilogue

Prologue

It is my hope that the readers of this book will become more in tune with either their own individual behaviors, or the actions and behaviors of others, including children. Whether you are a parent, school employee or any other adult who has some type of supervisory position over a child, you have a paramount duty to protect that child as well as ALL children. This includes making yourself aware of the warning signs or red flags relating to inappropriate relationships and then reporting any evidence of these to the appropriate authorities in the most expedient manner possible.

The intent of this author is not to teach the reader to be an expert in identifying sex offenders, or to provide a detailed analysis of the psychological profile of the offenders or their victims. It is merely meant to help the reader gain a better understanding and heightened sense of awareness into the actions and behaviors of those who interact with our children. While the topics that follow will relate primarily to school employees and cases I am most familiar with, it is important to remember school employees are not the exclusive offenders. The information that follows could apply to anybody who has contact with our children. Including other children.

Because the identity of most of the individuals involved in the issues detailed in this book are not nearly as important as their behaviors, I will avoid using names unless there is a specific need. If the reader has a strong desire to know more about each case outlined, there should be enough clues for most of these to help locate the information using the internet. Every case detailed in this book is true. All of the information used to write this book was obtained and verified through public records available from studies sponsored by the United States government, news outlets and the city, county and state organizations having jurisdiction over the individuals or issues referenced.

It is unfortunate that I have felt the need to write this book for quite some time. For nearly two decades I have worked for a company that manages several insurance risk pools. Two of these risk pools contain the majority of the school districts in the State of Washington. Part of my job includes investigating school employees who have been accused of engaging in misconduct with students. Before taking this career path, I was a Sheriff’s deputy and major crimes detective where a good majority of the cases I investigated involved crimes against children. I am also a certified polygraph (lie detector) examiner and during the course of my day I often have the opportunity to interview child victims, witnesses and those people who have been accused and or convicted of some of the most heinous criminal acts one can imagine. I am not an attorney, and highly recommend contacting your own legal counsel or law enforcement when confronted with issues such as these.

During my career and most notably in the past seventeen years, I have conducted hundreds of investigations relating to the actions of some of the most educated people in our society. Teachers; most of whom, have master’s degrees, yet for some reason a very small minority of them fail to remember who they are and what they stand for. At times, I have even joked that if it were not for some of the most educated people in our society, I wouldn’t have a job. Over the years I have also had the opportunity to be involved in investigations relating to Catholic Church officials and other church leaders from different denominations as well as allegations made against Boy Scout leaders and the leaders of multiple youth organizations. In addition to investigations, I have conducted hundreds of polygraph examinations on individuals, both male and female who have either been accused of or convicted of sex crimes against children. While it is a very small percentage of our society, I believe there are certain individuals in this world who deliberately want to be around children in schools or other youth organizations because, as Tom Cruise said in the movie Top Gun, It’s a target rich environment. At one point in my life I never would have thought people would make such terrible decisions, but sadly, they do. Nothing surprises me anymore.

The majority of the information that follows relates to school employees, but it is also important to remember that the same inappropriate behaviors occur in daycare centers, churches, extended families, scouting, youth sports programs and any other community organization where children are present. Unfortunately, a child can also be victimized in their own home or the home of a friend or other family member. Please do not isolate your thinking to just schools. Children must be protected no matter where they are. When you read the terms school employee, teacher or adult please remember it could actually be anybody, including other children.

These are life altering events for our youth and its effects are felt on an unknown number of other people around them. For every victim or allegation there is quite often other victims who never come forward and report these crimes. I am hoping that you, the reader of this book, will be the eyes, ears and mouth of those who lack the ability or perhaps even the courage to report these offenses. We all need to do the right thing, every time!

Chapter I

The Problem

Ninety percent of solving a problem is recognizing it.

(Larry MacGuffie, Mentor and Friend)

As a parent who is almost done raising his fifth child, three of them girls, I, along with every other parent put a tremendous amount of trust in the school employees and other adults who interact with our children. In an average day my youngest daughter spends over seven hours in what I would hope would be the safe and protected confines of our public school system. The additional time she spends working at her part time job, church youth group, after school events and any other social engagements that take her out of my sphere of influence only increases the opportunities for her to be taken advantage of by some unscrupulous individual who somehow slipped past my radar or the radar of other responsible authority figures. If your son or daughter is like mine, he or she will spend much more than one half of their waking life with other adults. ¹ Because of this, it is critical that my daughter, like your child or children, have the very best moral and ethical leaders at school or anywhere else they can be influenced. It is imperative that each of us know what type of individual is out there looking, or rather lurking for opportunities to take advantage of our children and trust.

I live in a small town in rural America, but that does not necessarily mean my children are any safer or more protected from adults gone wild than children in larger communities or schools. In fact, it can sometimes be argued that the opposite is true. In some cases, primarily in the past, smaller school districts have found it very difficult to attract quality teachers. This is generally a choice on the part of the teacher who quite often does not want to work in a small school environment where the pay differentials make it difficult to pay off their college loans and have a life at the same time. In some cases, because of a combination of events where the stars seem to be misaligned, a bad apple is allowed to sneak into the school system. Partly because of the difficulty attracting teachers, some districts have overlooked the minor indiscretion or failed to do an extremely thorough background investigation. In either case, the district simply accepted the bare minimum requirements, so they could fill the position. When it comes to deciding who fills these positions and will be near our children, you would hope the hiring authority would do a little more research than just ensuring the applicant has a teaching certificate and is breathing. Unfortunately, this is all that is done in some schools who might be under pressure to fill a teaching position.

In contrast to smaller schools, your children may not be any safer in a larger school system. If a teacher or other school employee has a fascination for children, it can be easier for that person to hide in a larger environment. In these cases, it is simply a matter of numbers. Eventually, due to the larger turnover and number of applicants, it is possible paperwork or steps within the hiring process are missed or even side-stepped. This can also allow the wrong person access to our children.

Even worse is when a school district or one of its administrator’s judgment is clouded because of his or her desire to hire or keep a winning coach who has no business being near our children. In 2003, the Seattle Times newspaper published a series of articles entitled, Coaches Who Prey. This well documented series, which actually helped change Washington State law, profiled over one hundred fifty coaches throughout the State of Washington who engaged in inappropriate behaviors with children. To quote one of the articles:

"In a dark side of the growing world of girls’ sports, 159 coaches have been reprimanded or fired for sexual misconduct in the past decade. And 98 continued to coach or teach — as schools, the state and even some parents looked the other way." ²

All too often school districts feel the need to hire a person based on their coaching abilities rather than their ability to teach in the classroom. Additionally, even when the facts warrant termination, some districts either opt to keep the employee or use tax dollars to buy them off through a resignation or settlement agreement. Worse yet, is a large number of these individuals are not tracked and are able to move from district to district.

To help prevent troubled individuals from moving from one school district to another, most states have enacted laws or rules that require the mandatory reporting of certified teachers to the State’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.³ Even the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification maintains a national database available to school directors within the United States’ educational systems.⁴ This database includes the names and certificate status of only certified school employees who engage in misconduct. Unfortunately, it does not track many other school employees who offend. Even by taking an active role in tracking offending teachers, other school employees are able to freely slip through the cracks.

At this point, it should be noted that there are generally