Processing this DOJ report that finally tells what we all already knew. What I strongly suspected was taking place before I even came forward. The dynamics that *prompted me* to come forward so publicly and openly.
So many emotions...
The depth of betrayal - survivors get asked "why didn't you report?" and those who did hear "if it was true they would have done something."
Let it be said clearly today - this is why survivors don't report. Because the very people tasked with protection so often don't.
I will never forget wrapping myself up in a blanket to read the IndyStar story that had my name and face and details videod and catalogued for the world, and for the first time seeing USAG allege that they had reported Larry more than a year and a half earlier. . .
I thought I might throw up. For a moment I wondered if I had just upended the lives of my family, parents, children, myself, for nothing. Then I looked at the date and realized what that meant.
I remembered sitting at MSU PD, talking with Andrea. Larry was still a doctor. Getting the email from her the next day that he was still treating little girls every day and denied everything. That meant he was still abusing. I called Andrea immediately - how was this possible?
"It's not adding up Rachael. The documentation doesn't add up." At that moment I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything I had been afraid was taking place - botched investigations, outright coverup, really had been.
I had expected to find it, and we did. Almost immediately. Every interview I did and the 60 Minutes team I spent hours with on background, told me the same thing "the FBI's story doesn't add up. Something is rotten."
So much betrayal.
For six years the facts have trickled out. The level of failure, corruption, collusion. The absolute lack of value for the athletes who reported and the little girls suffering at Larry's hands every single day. We have waited for six years for someone to admit what we knew.
For the past six years the FBI has continued to lie about what they did. The DOJ took six years to investigate. It took immense public pressure for this report to be released.
And what is the result?
What happens to these agents who lied? Who never bothered to even document the reports? Who never so much as opened an official investigation? What happens to the supervisor who wined and dined with Penny and got a job offer instead of stopping a pedophile?
Nothing.
Nothing happens to them. Over 100 little girls were sexually abused by Larry because of these agents. Lives were upended because the only way to stop Larry was to come forward so publicly. Athletes who reported were essentially told they didn't matter.
And nothing happens now.
There is no accountability. No criminal charges. No justice. No restitution for the damage they caused. No punitive actions.
This report lays bare the corruption, but it's conclusion says "doesn't matter". Because nothing happens now.
The rest of us are left with the lifelong consequences, and already bore the cost of pushing for the truth. And these agents retire on government pensions while survivors fight to stay alive.
Nothing happens now.
Here's what you need to ask:
Ask what you don't see.
If this could be done to Olympians, and it took six years of massive public pressure and hundreds of victims pushing for the truth, to even uncover it, what do you NOT see?
What about the survivors that don't have that voice, support, and ability?
Ask why the Indianapolis PD hasn't been investigated. Ask how Steve Penny could know that he could pick up the phone, call the head of the child sex abuse division, and get that detective's help trying to quash the IndyStar story. Ask how Penny knew he could do that.
Ask why the IN AG has refused to investigation the IMPD for inserting itself into the Nassar investigation and attempting to stop the story.
Ask why that detective got a promotion instead of a reprimand.
Ask what we don't see yet.
Ask what is happening to other survivors.
Ask what needs to change to hold corrupt and bad-acting law enforcement accountable.
There's a reason I expected to find these dynamics. There is a reason we did find them.
Ask what we have to change for there to be accountability and justice with bad actors who are LEO's.
Ask if maybe what we see here is why out of every 300 rapes reported to police, only approximately 6 result in criminal charges. Non-rape sexual assault statistics are even worse.
It doesn't work like Law and Order SVU.
Ask what has to be done to stop this.
There is a reason I expected to find gross negligence and outright corruption.
There is a reason we DID find it.
Ask what has to change so this doesn't happen again.
Read the full report here. Ask what we still don't see.
I have known some of the people involved in this story and the call for accountability for almost 8 yrs. We assisted them in dynamics that crossed into my current work before my own case. Others I connected with years ago as well.
I know conservative Christian therapists in the area who, while tightly protecting confidentiality, have likewise expressed serious concern at what they have seen in their professional sphere, from students coming out of HLS.
The words of those who have spoken out are worth heeding. Read them for yourself.
This is not a political effort (this story has been in the works for around 2 years) and it's not a move to destroy Christianity, Classical Education, or Christian education. In fact...
"We’re saying the answer to the politician’s question, “What is the optimum moment at which to come back from a big sex scandal, and how do I do it?” is this:
“You are asking the wrong question.”
The right questions would go something like: “What can I do to stop being greedy for power, attention and adulation? How can I come to understand that the question is not the public’s capacity to forgive, but my own capacity to exercise sound judgment and regard for others?
Repentance starts with confession - telling the truth about what happened. Check your pastor and elders words. Is this repentance?
This is described as a "morally inappropriate relationship" with a "young women"...
But in fact, it was an adult having sexual contact with a minor and pre-teen CHILD.
This is felony level child sexual assault.
And it didn't happen because she was "flirtatious".
It happened because a grown man was sexually aroused and gratified himself with a pre-teen child
Morris' own words, your elders own words, right now, in this moment, are neither confession nor repentance, because it isn't even beginning with the minimum threshold of telling the truth.
Qualified immunity has created a system in which those with the most power, have the least accountability.
The reason the Nassar settlement with the FBI is so significant is because qualified immunity is essentially a complete bar to restitution for any malfeasance.
It doesn't just protect law enforcement. It is typically interpreted to protect ANY government actor.
MSU had immunity against all the Nassar survivors because they are a state university and Larry and everyone who covered for him, was a state employee.
We received a measure of justice and forced some change only due to extreme public pressure. The law said MSU had full protection no matter what.
When we tried to lift QI in sex abuse cases, state universities, public schools and government lobby turned out in force, including
On Larry Nassar and Paul Pressler, Michigan State University, USAG and the SBC, and all the ways they are different…
There are so many unsung heroes in my case. . .people that lent their voices, provided pieces of the puzzle, helped put away a predator, that no one knows about.
But they meant everything to me back then, and they still do.
1 – An MSU employee for the medical clinic who reached out to say “I don’t know Rachael. But I can tell you he’s not following the chaperone policies. None of us even knew he was supposed to be chaperoned.”
It didn’t prove I was telling the truth, but it showed that he was pushing the rules and boundaries. That he was disregarding the warnings he was given in 2014 about sexual assault. That he wasn’t following accepted practices regarding privacy and appropriate contact.
No, it doesn't mean "innocent" or "didn't do anything wrong". It means people or entities who didn't personally commit the crime, but includes those who may have:
1. Violated mandatory reporting. 2. Knew and did nothing. 3. Intentionally hid it.
And more.
So for example:
Catholic Priest John Geoghan, who raped at least 130 boys, is the perpetrator.
The Catholic Church who systematically hid the knowledge of his rape of children and put him in new parishes, allowing him to keep raping children, is the "non-offending third party".