Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and even our own controversial president, Donald Trump. What do they have in common? Well, they’re all very successful and wealthy men. But what else do these men have in common? I’ll give you a hint. It’s not their fame. It’s the fact they have all been accused of inappropriate and offensive sexual behavior.

Sexual violation in any way is completely unethical and there should be some serious changes legally, as far as punishment goes. Drug dealers serve more time in prison than sexual predators do, and that has to change. Sure, sexual violation may last a short period of time, but the damage that it creates will surely last forever.

I will not sugarcoat it; sexual violation is powerful enough to shape an innocent mind into an insecure mind. Victims can develop anxiety issues, insecurities based on looks, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even depression. It is genuinely traumatic. The number of people who are sexually harassed/assaulted that are afraid to speak up is too high, even after the incident had occurred. How is everybody supposed to just go about with their lives as if nothing had even happened? Are we, victims, expected to just forget about the trauma we have experienced?

There are countless movies and shows on sexual predators. Every opening scene of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” begins with “In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous.” The entire point of this program is to rationalize the reality of sexual crimes, not to glorify them. Nearly every episode has at least three scenes of a young woman being interrogated while crying. Why? Because it’s the most effective way to portray the pain and constant fear that victims of sexual violation have gone through, and the media is the most effective way to raise awareness for pretty much anything.

My story begins here...

In the summer of 2017, I received messages from a man that was twice my age, who had worked at my school as a custodian and a substitute teacher (yes, that is correct). At first, I didn’t think anything of it. I responded to him just to be nice, but it got out of hand… fast.

He’d asked me things like, “Do you like writing poetry?” and “Do you struggle with anxiety?” I said yes. This man had then asked me if I write poetry to cope with the anxiety. Again, I said yes. He told me that things would get better, and that pain was just weakness leaving the body, and I remember thinking “Wow, it’s kind of sweet that he cares,” but at the same time, I wanted to throw up.

This man began complimenting me, not in the “I like your outfit” way, but in the “I’m craving you” way. He told me I was gorgeous. He then said, “I walked near you once after school, and you smelled really good.” I was (and still am) a three-season athlete, and since we did not have locker rooms, student-athletes had to change in bathroom stalls. He once said to me, “I like pink, polka-dotted panties.” I couldn’t help but realize that I don’t own pink, polka-dotted underwear. Was he insinuating that I [or he] should get a pair [for me]?

As a custodian, he did have access to things like restrooms (both, boys’ and girls’) and surveillance footage, so perhaps he put a camera in the ladies’ bathrooms.

“You won’t tell your parents, will you?” he asked. He wouldn’t have asked that particular question if he hadn’t known if what he was doing was wrong. He knew what he did. He knew that preying on a girl young enough to be his daughter is not OK. He knew that even initially reaching out to me via social media was wrong. I don’t even know what would possess him to even initiate any type of relationship with me. My assumption is that he was scared of getting in any trouble or losing his job, but if he’s so scared of that negative effect, he should not have engaged in any conversation whatsoever.

Come mid-September, my parents and I reached out to the local police department. They took my phone for three days, investigating what had happened. They then asked my parents and I to sign a contract, allowing permission to log onto my social media, pose as me, and talk to him. In other words, they requested our permission to catfish him (Catfish: Catfishing is a type of deceptive activity involving a person creating a sock puppet social networking presence for nefarious purposes).

After they would talk to him, they’d get a warrant to search through his electronics. But, when my parents reached out to the county prosecutor, she asked us to come in for questioning. Afterwards, she told the police that she will handle the investigation, so they did not do anything they were supposed to. She immediately brought him in for questioning, and she found nothing wrong. I don’t think I have ever been so disgusted with somebody of legal authority.

I discussed this all with the prosecutor, and she made it seem as if I was at fault for this happening. She made me feel as if I was the one preying on him. The police looked more into it, and they found absolutely no reason to press charges against him. They said there wasn’t enough evidence to present his wrongdoing. As far as I’m concerned, the investigators failed. Not only did they fail in general, but they failed a child. They failed to keep a child safe. They failed to properly do their job.

Please take notice: The names of the school district, predator, prosecutor, and any police officer is kept confidential for the protection of those who may not be involved. I have no right to put names out into the media without anyone’s consent.

If, for any reason or in any way, someone (who may be older) says/does things to make you uncomfortable, please let somebody of authority know for the safety of yourself and others.