How One Survivor Navigates Speaking Out On Abuse - PowerPoint Presentation

How One Survivor Navigates Speaking Out On Abuse Erin Rutherford

Objectives Understand the dynamics of child sexual abuse from a victim’s perspective Learn how communities have responded to sexual abuse in the past and how we can improve the process Learn more about what you can do to be an advocate for other survivors

Growing Up Born in St. Louis, 1985 Parents divorced at age 5, moved to Louisville Mom was a nurse, Dad was a firefighter Raised in large Catholic family A ttended Catholic school Played lots of sports and activities Have a musical family, always enjoyed singing Joined the church choir

High School Attended Assumption High School freshman and sophomore year Joined the rowing team and school choir Friend took music lessons and recorded a CD! How cool! Referred to friend’s vocal coach for lessons Many girls at the school took lessons from the same coach- Turley Richards

Turley Richards This is Turley Richards- musician, vocal coach, blind, and a sexual abuser

Vocal Lessons Began taking vocal lessons from Turley Richards at the beginning of 2002, took lessons for 8 months I was 16 years old and he was 60 years old Turley had decades of experience in the music industry and was a popular local musician Toured with The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac Provided lessons out of a studio in his basement

Vocal Lessons Turley was extremely friendly, always said he wore his heart on his sleeve He was very charismatic and charming Told people he lost his vision in his 20’s and needs to touch you in order to “see” you This is how he justified the abuse! Turley acted as a confidant, especially during teenage vulnerability at that timeLessons went from being friendly, then escalated to more touching, explicit conversations

Vocal Lessons Eventually got to the point where there was no singing during lessons Stopped seeing Turley shortly thereafter Did not tell anyone out of shame, guilt, and manipulation (“Don’t tell your parents, they won’t understand”) Came to learn Turley was a textbook abuser (i.e. manipulation, grooming, having community support)

How I felt Utter Confusion Something isn’t right here, but I made the choice to continue going back and therefore this is my fault I wasn’t raped, so this wasn’t abuse Can’t trust adults I am the only one this is happening to I no longer have the desire to sing in front of others (is my voice even good?)

Coming Forward About a month after lessons stopped, decided to tell a coworker of my mother’s She assisted in telling my mother Mom immediately called the police and reported Turley’s behavior Call was forwarded to Crimes Against Children Unit Detectives came to the high school, called me out of class, and interviewed me in a classroom

Coming Forward Once my report was made, an investigation was opened and other students were questioned Parents of students did not communicate or stand together

Legal Options After initial investigation, case was forwarded to Commonwealth Attorney’s (CA) office to bring charges “No forcible compulsion” stated by the CA office I was 16, which is considered the age of consent in Kentucky and therefore no felony charges KRS 532.045 “Person in Position of Authority” law not in effect until 2008 Law states that person in a position of trust or authority subjects a minor to sexual contact who is less than 18 years oldPolice advised mom to file a criminal complaint in district court but would get a misdemeanor at best

Moving On Decided not to pursue anything further to avoid additional trauma Saw a therapist briefly after coming forward Returned to therapy in early 20’s to try and process more of what happened First time acknowledging what happened was abuse Wrote a letter to Turley, expressing the consequences of his actions (do not recall if letter was ever mailed)

Moving On Decided to become a Social Worker Felt a calling to be the support for someone in their time of need Moved to Honolulu and earned a Master’s in Social Work at the University of Hawaii Got a job in the housing and homeless sector and worked in the field for 10 years

Me Too In the fall of 2017, Harvey Weinstein was exposed as a sexual predator and # metoo took off Larry Nassar , sexual abuser of girls at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, was convicted in January 2018 Closely watched the victim impact statements, which resonated a great deal

Decided to look up Turley online and see where he is now “4 off to school out of town”, meaning they graduated high school Discovered Turley is still actively teaching and recruiting students

My Own Investigation Did not sit well with me knowing he was still teaching and potentially hurting other girls I was curious about whatever happened with my own case 16 years ago Aunt is a Detective and advised me how to get copies of my police file through a Public Open Records request Was able to get a copy of the file within 3 weeks Very intense to review the summary report Brought back memories and statements I could not easily remember

My Own Investigation Spoke with a friend who is an attorney and she suggested I call our state’s legal hotline and speak with a volunteer attorney on Kentucky sexual abuse laws The attorney answering the hotline was Kaitlin Smith Dean She explained the two types of court- Criminal and Civil Only the CA office can bring criminal charges, however there is no criminal case because the “Position of Power” law did not go into effect until 2008, and it is not standard practice to charge someone for crimes that were not crimes at time committed Could file a civil suit, however statute of limitations for sexual assault is 10 years from when the victim turns 18 Missed the statute of limitations by 4 years

My Own Investigation Spoke with three other attorneys that were recommended and all had similar views The overarching message was that more victims need to come forward in order for the CA office to re-open the investigation Need to show a pattern of abuse Was advised that it is not illegal to speak my truth and therefore I could speak out about my experience to try and get more support Suggested contacting someone in the media to see if I could get help with investigating

Media Support Per my Aunt’s suggestion, contacted investigative reporter Natalia Martinez at Wave3News Natalia was intrigued by my story and said she would start looking into Turley Started looking at the BBB and asking colleagues if they knew anything about Turley Shared my police file with her

Other Victims Called Crimes Against Children Unit to inform police about Turley’s behavior and that he is still teaching girls One lieutenant offered to look up Turley in the system and see if there was other information he could find Lieutenant found 6 other cases, 5 from 2002 and 1 from 2013 (just 5 years ago!) Requested those files through Public Open Records Request and got copies in 3 weeks (with names and identifying information redacted)All showed same consistent behaviors and patterns of abuse

Other Victims Shared the other police files with Natalia from Wave3 Natalia’s boss gave her approval to launch a full investigative story Started contacting former students I knew to see if they could provide further information Most declined to be involved and wanted to put it behind them One victim was willing to hear me out Met for dinner and gave her a copy of her file She agreed to support me in my endeavor but was unwilling to go public at the time

Further Investigation Myself, Natalia from Wave3, and my attorney Kaitlin all worked on investigating Called the high school and requested records of the CPS reports since the police files indicated CPS reports were made Schools did NOT keep records on this Discovered private schools have different standards for recordkeeping and protocol than public schools Requested records from the State CPS division CPS had NO record of myself or other victim I was working with

Further Investigation Turley is now married and his wife helps run his vocal business Turley claimed to be part of West Virginia Hall of Fame Natalia contacted Hall of Fame and they confirmed he is NOT a member This is standard offender behavior of trying to make yourself look good to the public, while hiding the dark behavior

The Interview Once Wave3 decided to launch a full investigation, they requested an interview with me because the story would not carry as well without a face to put to it I was interviewed in October 2018, with my attorney Kaitlin present Was also joined by another victim who declined to be interviewed but attended for support

Story Release After multiple delays due to Wave3’s legal team ensuring the story could go public, it was finally released on October 31 st, 2018 https://www.wave3.com/2018/10/31/teenage-girls-accuse-local-musician-naked-massages-forcible-kissing / 6 minute long segment; the longest Natalia had ever aired

My Reaction to the Story Overall I was satisfied The entire process was a huge learning experience for me, especially in the sense that journalists come from a neutral perspective and are not meant to be allies Had to remind myself that the news story is a victory regardless of what happens to Turley in the future

Aftermath Overall feedback was positive and received lots of support Some students/parents commented publicly on the story stating that he was never inappropriate with them ( i.e There’s no way he could do this, he’s so nice and professional to me ) Parents of underage students said they always sat in on lessons and that Turley disclosed the allegations when he first met the students’ parents (??!!) Released at same time of another child sexual abuse story involving a Catholic School student and his basketball coachWas the timing of the two stories helpful or hurtful?

Aftermath Posted the story to my F acebook account, asked people to re-share Made my profile public so that others could see the article and contact me Started getting contacted by other former students and/or parents who gave me names of other students One parent found the story online and never sent her daughter back which means this was all WORTH IT Kept reaching out to other students to see if they can support and give us evidence to eventually pursue legal actionsStarted tracking potential victims- received 20 names of students who may have additional information

Additional Media Support Assumed that other outlets would pick up the story Was supposed to be interviewed by the newspaper Local politics, bureaucracy, and not wanting to step on toes prevented any other source from picking up the story Was a 2 nd news piece in beginning of November where Natalia and other reporter for the coach abuse story discussed their stories Natalia mentioned in the 2 nd story that the #metoo movement allowed me to come forward

Who else can support? Since the legal route was unlikely, I still felt the need to continue to spread the word so that people were aware of the person providing lessons to their children I called City Council, the Mayor, Senators & Reps, schools in his neighborhood Emailed the story to local news outlets, magazines, social service agencies, national advocacy groups (35 separate entities) Posted reviews on his Amazon products Reported suspected abuse to CPS (never got a response)

Responses to Story Of all the entities I reached out to, most didn’t respond All political figures said they could not get involved Some did lend support University of Alabama released a story highlighting and praising Turley’s career in March 2019. S ent them the story and received this response: “ I take this issue very seriously, and we will be removing the story from our website. Tonight, I will sit down with the writer and editors of the story to determine how this fact was missed and ensure the staff understands the consequences of failing to identify individuals who have been accused of sexual misconduct of any kind. I agree that we must support survivors of sexual assault and abuse, and I cannot begin to understand how painful it must be to read an article highlighting this person's work. I'm truly sorry for the hurt this error has caused.”

Potential Civil Suit Two victims provided me with a lot of information from similar experiences Both students fell within the statute of limitations and potentially could have filed a suit After much discussion both victims declined to move forward with filing a suitDichotomy of wanting to be supportive of their choice, but also disappointed that they were not willing to assist further

What else can I do? Felt like I had done everything I possibly could to get the word out No legal action would be pursued Am I satisfied with the results? Feel a longing to continue the momentum and try to push for more change Should I share my story on a bigger level ? Applied to be speaker at Darkness to Light conference and the annual Kentucky Sexual Assault conference Contacted the Kentucky Sexual Assault Prevention organization and spoke with legislative workerWorking on meeting with state senators and reps on extending statute of limitations laws

How did all this make me feel? Incredibly frustrated as I had a clear picture of what justice looked like (i.e. Turley is convicted in court) and things were not moving quickly enough Lots of stress So much energy spent on phone calls, researching, meetings, trying to juggle the complexities of multiple victims Very defeated at times because people do not take this issue seriously

Lessons Learned SELF-CARE , SELF-CARE, SELF-CARE Understand that all victims/survivors carry their trauma differently Do not allow others’ negative energy to seep in and do not waste energy on the abuser Instead channel your energy into positive changes

Lessons Learned Do not give in to outside rhetoric and ignorant thought processes: There’s no way he could have done that- he’s so nice and friendly, he’s like a family member to us Was this really that bad, or actual abuse since I wasn’t raped? If you didn’t want it to happen then why didn’t you fight back and return? You just want attention How do we know you’re not making this up? NYT Article: Why Women Can Take Years to Come Forward with Sexual Assault Allegations https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/18/us/kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford.htmlVox Article: The Asia Argento allegations reveal our damaging misconceptions about sexual assault survivors https ://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/18/us/kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford.html

Me Too Movement& Misconceptions Tarana Burke is original creator of “me too” In first 24 hours of it going viral, 12 million people engaged with the hashtag The term came out of her desire to show empathy and give survivors space to know they are not alone Me Too movement is not just for white women in high status Movement needs to focus more on helping survivors heal, and not just calling out the perpetrators (but that too!) Taken from: http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/burke-discusses-misconceptions-inclusivity-in-me-too-movement/article_ba55a768-3214-11e8-81bb-cb2d06f3ce93.html

How can you help? Believe victims! Only in rare cases does someone fabricate these experiences Vote! Pay attention to what the judges, state and local senators and representatives you voted for are doing Call your existing lawmakers about what laws you’d like to see changed Approach your work through a trauma-informed lens and don’t assume all survivors think and feel the same about their experiences

Be Brave Manifesto

This is how one survivor navigates speaking out on abuse, l et’s s upport e ach o ther!Contact me at erinrutherford815@gmail.com