SALEM — Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito joined Secretary of Public Safety Terrence Reidy and Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett at Salem State on Wednesday for a roundtable discussion with survivors of sexual abuse to highlight legislation providing new protections for survivors.
The bill proposes changing the law to allow for dangerousness to be considered by the clerk and bail commissioners for those accused of sexual assault on a minor.
“We need this legislation fixed to protect the children sexual-assault survivors and the general public,” Blodgett said.
Blodgett began the roundtable discussion by mentioning some cases where sexual offenders did not serve properly for their crimes because “there was no element of attempted use or threat and use of physical force, and rape of a child does not qualify as a predicate offense.”
One case Blodgett read was of a 45-year-old man who was texting a 15 year-old-girl to entice her to meet with him. When she finally agreed, he picked her up at school and took her to a hotel.
The man previously paid for the room, snuck the child in from the side door, and engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse with the girl and then directed her to shower any evidence away.
“The defendant was held without bail in district court. The defendant argued that rape of a child was not a predicate offense and a judge in Superior Court agreed and the Commonwealth appealed,” Blodgett said. “So we are literally talking about having to have the knife to a minor child in order to bring a 58A. That is outrageous. It needs to be fixed. We have to get this done. We have to protect children, sexual-assault survivors and the public. Please speak up and make your voices heard.”
Baker held three previous roundtable discussions with other survivors of sexual crimes in Plymouth, Springfield and Worcester to address the “gaping loopholes that really bad people have taken advantage of” in the law and to push for this legislation to pass in order to fix them.
“While it is incredibly generous and brave for you (the survivors) to be here today, the simple truth of the matter is that your nightmare never ends,” Baker said. “Your voice, which in my opinion are the only ones that matter in this issue, will be heard and there will be an opportunity for you to believe that your decision to come forward and to share your stories the same way folks did in those other round tables will not have been in vain and you have done something to protect those who come after you who find themselves in similarly horrific and awful and terrible ongoing situations and circumstances.”
One of the survivors, Kate M., spoke about her three sons being molested by Christopher Prew, who worked in the Marblehead school system and summer camps, and was a hockey coach who also gave private lessons.
In February 2018, Prew was charged with molesting all three of Kate’s boys and at least five others after he had embedded himself in the small town and built the trust of many families.
He was indicted by a grand jury in February 2018 and was found to be dangerous in Salem Superior Court, but was released by the court.
“The safety that they felt while he was held in custody was ripped from them,” Kate said. “According to the law, child-sexual abuse is not one of the charges considered dangerous… It was hard to fathom how this could be. It was very difficult to inform my brave, but traumatized children, that under the law, Prew was not considered dangerous.”
Kate said she fully supports the dangerousness legislation sponsored by Baker because it is personal to her and is extremely important for the safety of her family, the community and the Commonwealth.
“The individual accused of these crimes is a perpetrator and is the perfect representation of a dangerous person as described in the bill,” she said. “He is accused of molesting over eight children and has been charged on various counts of indecent assault including rape in Essex County.
“He also faced additional charges in Middlesex and in Vermont… These boys were brave enough to come forward and share their truth and now it is our responsibility to continue to keep them safe and ensure that they feel safe.”
Erin K. then spoke about her son being sexually assaulted and raped by Prew.
At the time, Erin said her family was deep in grief as her husband had just commited suicide, so Prew took advantage of that and messaged her on Facebook to offer his condolences.
She knew him from programs at her son’s school and entrusted him with more than 50 unsupervised outings and events.
“We just assumed since he was involved with so many people in our town that everything was OK,” she said. “My son is my hero for telling me that day what happened to him. He saved so many. I’ll never forget as long as I live.”
Erin said she supports the bill because far too many of these predators freely walk the streets and are not caught.
“I don’t know anyone who would agree that sexual predators of any degree would be a crime we would not want added to the list of offenses,” Erin said. “Rape without force? A child has no idea what they would be resisting from. Force or no force… I support the bill because it would allow the judge, in any given case, the ability to detain dangerous individuals longer than the current 58A dates he or she can until their trial.”
Erin said she thinks daily about what Prew did to her family and testified at the State House twice to change the law so he can’t get out.
She installed security cameras around her house and had family stay with her to have more protection, as she received threats from his family telling her that “she better think long and hard about what she’s doing” and that she has “no idea what and who she is dealing with.”
Another adult survivor named Rob P. spoke about his experience being raped when he was 11 years old.
Rob was approached by a stranger at the Lawrence public pool who was saying that he lost his dog and would give Rob and his friend $10 if they would help him find it.
Rob and his friend said they’d help, so the man took their names and addresses down so he could send them the money.
“We were anxious to help, but thought it would be fun,” Rob said.
The man then lured Rob and his friend to a wooded area some distance from the pool, where he made them undress and raped them one at a time.
“It was awful watching my friend being raped and I was terrified knowing that I would be next,” Rob said. “I thought about running, but I was afraid the man would kill my friend.”
The stranger eventually let them go and told them not to tell anyone, reminding the boys that he had their names and addresses.
“It was a terrifying experience and I always feared that he would come to my house and harm me and my family,” Rob said.
This predator who raped Rob was convicted child rapist Wayne Chapman, who admitted to molesting more than 100 kids. He was also a suspect in the disappearance of two boys, one from the very pool Rob was lured from.
“I can’t help but wonder how many child-sexual assaults could have been prevented if this dangerousness bill was already a law,” Rob said. “It’s haunting to think that a child predator can be free to reoffend repeatedly while out on bail.”
The Baker administration invited these speakers, and two others named Karla P. and Tara, to share their stories to show the importance of reforming this law.
“We need… to make sure that victims and survivors have a level playing field and most importantly to improve public safety here in the commonwealth,” Polito said. “Today… we are working with your voices to help tell the reasons why we need to change these laws and that the proposals that we have made will do that.”