Hey, Can A Woman "Ask To Get Raped"?

Suit charges Upper St. Clair officials made rape victim 'bait'
Friday, July 30, 2010
By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A former Upper St. Clair High School student who already claimed she had been raped once was raped again on school property after school officials used her as bait in a failed attempt to catch students they believed were having sex in the building, her attorneys claim.

The allegation was made in a lengthy response filed by attorneys for the unidentified former student against the district's motion to throw out the lawsuit brought by the former student. Upper St. Clair school district is asking U.S. District Chief Judge Gary L. Lancaster to find in its favor, arguing that the plaintiffs cannot prove the district was deliberately indifferent to the possibility that the student would be assaulted.

According to the brief by the student's attorney, on Feb. 4, 2008, the girl went to one of her teachers, Esther von Waldow, and told her that a boy, with whom she'd had previous problems, had forced her to have sex with him after school. The Post-Gazette does not identify victims of sexual assault and has not identified the accused rapist, who pleaded guilty in juvenile court to sexual assault.

The girl told Ms. von Waldow that he forced another student to have sex, as well.

Ms. von Waldow, according to the brief, immediately went to school administrators with concerns and offered several options to make sure the girls in question got home safely. They included offering herself to walk the girls to their school bus.

But, the filing said, school Principal Michael Ghilani had a different idea.

"Instead, Ghilani wanted to keep Jane Doe on school property and not let her leave. Ghilani's plan, known as the 'sting operation,' was to use Jane Doe as 'bait' to lead the school administrators to [the boy] and perhaps other girls."

According to a court filing submitted by the school district, Dr. Ghilani didn't believe that the students were in danger or that any safety concerns were present. Instead, he thought students were having consensual sex in school after hours.

He devised a plan to have school police officers follow the students in question to determine who they were and where they were going.

"Security personnel followed the students. Whether the sexual activity was alleged to be consensual or nonconsensual would not have altered the plan," Upper St. Clair said in its brief. "The plan to was to monitor the students and stop the students before any sexual activity occurred."

The officers followed the students and believed that they had gone home for the day.

However, an officer working night duty later saw on a school surveillance camera that the boy and another girl were back on the premises.

Though the officer then did rounds to find them, he never did.

The girl's attorneys contend that two girls were raped in the stairwell that afternoon, including their client.

"Ghilani's 'sting operation,' which prevented von Waldow from placing Jane Doe on her bus and out of harm's way so that she could be used as bait, resulted in her being violently raped. Ghilani and the school district acted in utter disregard of her welfare."

David J. Barton, the attorney representing the student, called Mr. Ghilani's attempt at a sting "ill-conceived."

"As a parent, I'm offended that a high school principal would use anybody's daughter as bait."

Among the claims by the girl and her parents are that school officials failed to act when they knew the boy was a threat.

They claim that several school administrators knew by mid-January that the boy was sexually harassing several girls and had sexually assaulted more than one.

Even so, the brief said, no one contacted the police.

But in court documents filed by the school district, there are allegations that relationships between the boy in question and several of the girls who claim to be victims were consensual. The district argues that the girls liked him, and were jealous of the others.

In one court filing, the district said that it could dispute whether the student who filed the lawsuit has been raped.

But following the incident, the girl's attorneys contend in documents, the suspect sent the girl this text message:

"im soo sry i didn't mean 2 make u cry. i'm cant believe i just raped u well bout time u read dis i mite b dead."

School officials also claim that they knew nothing of any sexual assaults by the boy until the morning of Feb. 5, 2008 -- the day after the alleged "sting."

In October 2008, the boy admitted in juvenile court to sexual assault, but not rape. He was said to be facing up to four years incarceration. The judge on the case, John T. McVay Jr., issued a gag order.

The plaintiffs on Thursday also accused the school district of lying on its annual Safe Schools Report, submitted in June 2008 to the state Department of Education. In that report, the district reported that no rapes had occurred at the high school during the school year.

Leah Harris, a spokeswoman at the Department of Education, said no discipline is provided for districts that do not report information accurately.

Because the law does not define the various offenses, she said, school districts use their own definitions.

For the 2007-08 school year, Upper St. Clair High School reported one instance of "obscene and other sexual materials and performance," one occurrence of recklessly endangering, and two instances of "threatening school officials and students."

In a written statement, the school district said it believed that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the plaintiffs have failed to meet their burden of proof. Officials would not comment further.
http://current.com/1e6m84c

Good Lord, there are three of them! Oh well, three that I will vote down and ignore.

Roy youth pastor arrested, charged with raping teen from his flock
By bob mims
The Salt Lake Tribune
Published Nov 10, 2010

A Weber County youth pastor has been arrested and booked on nine counts of rape following a three-month investigation into his relationship with a teenage girl from his flock.

Roy Police Chief Greg Whinham said Wednesday that Aaron Witcher, also known locally as “Pastor Soulja,” allegedly began having sex with the then-15-year-old girl sometime this past summer. The investigation began in early August, after a Roy police officer found the two in a parked car and became suspicious.

“He was found with the victim sitting in a car in an [LDS Church] parking lot. The officer made contact, established who they said they were — that this was supposed to be an association of a pastor with a ‘troubled teen’ issue,” Whinman said. “Still, the situation gave the officer enough concern that it was passed on to our investigation division to do a follow-up.”

Whinham did not reveal specifics for the officer’s suspicions, but said a subsequent investigation produced admissions by the pair that their relationship was sexual.

“[Other] disclosures led to a search warrant being served on [Witcher’s] home last Thursday for computers and computer files,” Whinham said.

He would not say specifically that investigators were looking for child pornography, but the chief did confirm that, “Everything we seized went to the FBI’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force lab.”

Whinham balked at describing the relationship between Witcher and the girl as consensual. “When you are dealing with a predator — a pastor, a teacher or a policeman for that matter —and you are 15, you are going to be a victim,” he said. “Was [the sex] forced? No. Was it [allegedly] manipulative? Yes.”

Witcher, 38, remained in Weber County Jail Wednesday in lieu of $180,000 bond.

Detectives also are looking into Witcher’s past pastoral assignments, noting that he purportedly was asked to leave New Pilgrim Baptist Church in Salt Lake City, and more recently the Genesis Project church in Ogden.

In September, Witcher moved to Roy to begin his Crosswalk Christian Training Center. “The victim in this case was associated with him prior, while he was at Genesis,” Whinham said.

The investigation is moving beyond Witcher’s activities in Roy, however. “We’re still trying to fill in the blanks, but what we are seeing is a pattern of him putting himself in a position of trust around young people wherever he’s been,” the chief said.

Genesis Pastor Matt Roberts confirmed that “we severed our relationship with Aaron about five months ago ... for behavior that was not becoming of a minister.” Roberts declined to specify what led to the termination, but emphasized “the behavior was not of a sexual nature.”

He said he first learned of the sexual aspect of allegations against Witcher on Tuesday, and that they involved the girl, who was among about a dozen people who had left the congregation of 1,000 with Witcher when he was let go.

“We are fully cooperating with police,” Roberts said.

Telephone and e-mail messages left with New Pilgrim Baptist Church were not immediately returned Wednesday.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50647161-76/witcher-pastor-roy-investigation.html.csp

I shouldnt have taken her at her word. Your position I find reasonable and very similar to mine.

ESPN's Keri Potts: How I escaped my rapist
November 10, 2010

Keri Potts of ESPN recently recounted her escape from sexual violence during a holiday in Italy. On the last night of her Italian vacation in November, 2008, ESPN public relations executive Keri Potts let her guard down in Rome and agreed to join an Italian artist named Marco for a tour of his studio, then drinks at a local bar. When she rebuffed his sexual advances, he locked her inside his apartment and tried to rape her.

What followed was a bloody, hand-to-hand fight for survival, that surged from the cramped interior of the 6th floor walk up to the balcony outside.

In the December issue of women's magazine Marie Claire, Potts describes how she escaped her assailant by punching him repeatedly, leaping over the balcony railing to a small ledge below, then clambering to freedom over rooftops, ledges and balconies in the pitch dark.

Ultimately, her attacker plea-bargained and was sentenced to 11 months, ten days probation.

Game On!'s Michael McCarthy interviewed the 33-year old former women's volleyball co-captain and Academic All-American at Syracuse University. Her voice breaking at times, Potts related how her experience as an athlete helped get her in, then out, of the life and death confrontation. The harrowing ordeal strengthened her religious faith . She now attends church every weekend.

What reaction are you getting to your story?

People have been so supportive. I'm hearing from people all over the country, in and out of the industry. I'm hearing what I always hoped to hear. That's 'I'm sharing this with my daughters, my sister, my wife, my girlfriend.' Which is what you hope for. The person who commits sexual assault, it's almost too easy for them. They're banking on the fact you're not going to talk about it. You're not going to prosecute. You're not going to put yourself through that. That's why I did it. I had qualms but you have to talk about it.

Are you angry he escaped with no jail time?

The minute it came through, I was in the middle of a work event. It just took the wind right out of me. It was like a blow to my stomach. In time, my anger lessened. Due to two two things. It was that he had to pay my (legal) fees. At that time, I thought it was so unjust. He plea-bargains and I'm going to be on the hook for $10,000 (in legal fees)? That's what I was thinking. But when I got the verdict, and I actually read the statement that said there's no way (he'd) be absolved of the crimes, therefore it's encouraged that (he) plea-bargain, that said to me: the courts believe me. Then when he was responsible for paying, it made me feel even better...It took me a while to get there though.

Did he have a criminal record?

This is a first offense…as far as I know. My feeling was it was so calculating. The door was locked. He offered me rum. He tried offered me marijuana. He wrestled me for my purse after I pushed him off and told him to stop touching me. He said, 'Give me your purse,' and he was wrestling me for it. I'm going, 'Why the hell does this guy want my purse? Why does he want my ID?' Then when I went to the door and realized it was locked, I thought, 'Oh my God, this is actually happening.'

Do you think he wanted to kill you?

I thought, 'He's taking my ID so they won't know who the body is.' That was my thought. And there's not one thing he did that makes me think different. He was stalking me around the table. He stood in front of the patio door. His back was to the patio and he was facing me. He had such a triumphant look on his face. He reached behind and starts pulling the shutter over the glass as if to say, 'I'm not going to want people to see what's going to happen here.' That's when I threw myself through that door. In self-defense (classes), they say if there's an exit available, you have to take it. That changed everything. The minute I was out in the open, it changed the entire dynamic. But it was hand-to-hand combat. It was really hard.

He punched you in the face?

Yes...I posted my hospital report on my blog today. It was all deep contusions. But I got my nose X-rayed, my ribs and my left hand. I thought it was broken from the battle.

Are you left-handed?

No, I'm not. I was hitting him with both my left and right hand but my left hand was one that got injured...He was drunk. Very drunk. And I was stone-cold sober. That was the best thing because he was so much bigger than me…I shoved him enough that he would go backwards and he would fall. But I was getting very tired. It was exhausting.

Describe the attack?

We had six go-rounds of him coming at me -- and me deflecting and shoving him back. Then him coming and me shoving him back. Then him hitting me in the face. I turned around finally decided, 'I've had enough.' I remember the look of surprise when it went from me trying to get him off, to me attacking him. That was the difference in everything. I will never forget the look of surprise on his face. That's the moment I don't take credit for. That's either in you or not. Until you're in mortal danger you do not know that. I can sit here and think I'm the toughest person. And I get in that situation and what did my body do? I almost wet myself. I remember saying, 'Oh my God, what is happening right now?' My brain was saying, 'Attack.' But my body was saying, 'No.'

Did you say anything to him, or did he say anything to you, during the assault?

One of the last things I said to him was, 'You will not get away with this.'…The worst part was he was speaking almost complete Italian the last 20 minutes I was up there. I said to myself, 'I'm going to go because the nice part about us talking and exchanging stories is over. He's in his own world now.'…When I got to that door he said, 'You're not going anywhere.' His English was suddenly perfect. That sent a chill through me. That's when I knew this was really bad . I thought, 'Where the hell did that come from?' He says: 'No, you're not going anywhere. I'm very angry with you.' Then I said, 'Open the f------door. This is ridiculous.' I was trying to be forceful. Then when he threw the keys away and he started coming around the table I got very nervous. My body started to have a weird response. I was shaking. He could see that -- and it made him so confident. I was very mad at myself. I'm thinking, 'What is going on right now Keri, let's get your act together.' I thought I was going to wet myself and fall in a heap. Then the adrenalin shot through me. My back went ramrod straight. I was just in the zone. In the zone. It was on. I felt: Let's do this.

What happened when you jumped over the patio railing?

I put my hands on the concrete pillars, balanced myself, and I remembered hearing my shoulder pop. I went over it kind of sideways. Wasn't very graceful. My sweater (got caught) on one of the crossbars. It almost impaled me through my chin. It went right past my face. I was just hanging in my sweater. Not quite down. I was well over the wall. But I wasn't six feet down to the ledge. He grabbed me by the neck. He cut me all over my face with his nails. At that point, I felt like he should have let go of me. Just let me go. He's trying to pull me back up by my head and my neck…He kept saying, 'Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush.' I know I'm so close. I'm thinking, 'This damned sweater.' I just kept pulling and pulling my body weight down. And it snapped. I went flying down into some potted plants. But that ledge was only three feet wide.

Advice for other women?

I'm lucky the way God made me. That was my response...Women who actually go through this ordeal , who are raped, and manage to survive and rebuild their lives, they are my heroes. I know I was not raped. But I know what the experience was like to realize you're about to be. I'm lucky. I look to women who were raped and I think, 'You are so amazing.' Honestly, if he had raped me, there never would have been an investigation. All he would have had to say is it was consensual.

Do you think he's sexually assaulted other women?

I feel he has because of the ease with which he did it. It was not haphazard to me. He seemed very comfortable in that role. He was stalking me around the table, making fun of me. He pretended to call the police. He kept making fun of me. He took my scarf off of me. He was very, very proud of himself. There was a look in his eye I'll never forget. I told the prosecutor that. I said, 'I know this is not the first time.' I can't prove it. It's just my word. But what man does that to someone?

As a former Division I athlete did you ever think something like this would happen to you?

I think anyone looking at me would say, 'No, not her.' My carriage, the way I carry myself ...I'm not a tiny girl (the 5'10" Potts weighed about 155 pounds at the time of the attack). But I can tell you it's what saved my life: Sports. Sports saved my life. I said I can do this. Just get me over that railing, I've got this. Just get me there. I never questioned my ability to do it. But the part that was hardest was when I was standing on the rooftops. I almost flipped right off the fourth rooftop. I have a photo of it on my blog (To see an in-depth explanation and photos of her escape route, click here). It was Spanish tiling and it was mossy. It was 2 in the morning so it was really wet. I started going backwards. I was getting frantic. I yelled at myself like I do when I play sports: 'C'mon, you have got this Keri.' The whole time I'm making these jumps and sliding and falling, I'm going, 'You got it, you got it Keri, keep going, keep going, keep going.' That little mental refrain that I think every athlete has when they're struggling with something…That's what I used to tell myself when I was on the court at Syracuse.

Do you feel like you went against your better instincts by going up to Marco's apartment?

Absolutely. And that was the hardest part: forgiving myself for that. There's a reason God made me the way he did. There's a reason my comfort zone is X to Y. That's where I do well. The minute I went outside of that, I got slammed…I'm a pretty cautious person. I have traveled overseas by myself a lot. But I've always done really well because I have my parameters. I'm savvy enough. I work in New York. I'm never down for scams. I do pretty well. And yet I just kind of let myself down. Someone said to me when you travel a lot in Europe you tend to get a little overconfident. Like you're not just some tourist. Like you're in the know somehow. It gives you this false sense of security. I have a post coming (on her blog) in which I talk about hubris. I never thought I'd be in this situation. It just shows you it happens to anyone, anytime, no matter what you think of yourself.

Does being an athlete give you a sense of security while traveling?

Yes, it gave me a false sense of security. Look how well that worked out for me, right? I almost got raped. But at the same time, it's what got me through it. I would tell anyone, 'Take care of your body if you can.' There's things you learn from it. The ability to keep pushing through when you're hurt, when you're in pain. The things that I did were ingrained.

What injuries did you suffer?

The next day I felt even my fingertips were broken. I had such deep bone bruises...I had to have my shoulder surgery moved up. When they opened it up, it was completely dislocated and ripped out. My doctor said, 'What the hell happened to you?' I said, 'I hurt myself in this assault.'…I think I tore something in my ribs. I couldn't breathe until almost April, (4 1/2 months after the attack)…He picked me up by my belt. I remember feeling this pop.

Who do you want to read your story?

My target is women. That's why I went to Marie Claire. But I always wanted to reach men too. I think because of what I do, and the world I'm in, you have to get it to men. Men need to read this.They have daughters and girlfriends and wives…It takes everybody to make sure sexual assault is brought out into the open and exposed.

What would you say to women who find themselves in the same situation?

There's no blanket phrase or saying for them. You do what you feel you have to, is what I'd say. If your instinct is you can't battle him, and you're better to just not fight it, and that's what's going to help you survive, do it. I can tell you this: you will know in that moment what you need to do to get through it.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2010/11/keri-potts/1

It is the sort of thing that might happen to any woman on vacation, or anywhere else for that matter, even a woman like Keri Potts, who is smart, savvy, and physically strong.

Good Lord, there are three of them! Oh well, three that I will vote down and ignore.

they want rape statistics to be even higher

Two peas in a pod.

These three aren't satisfied that rape is a serious crime that deserves serious discussions--they want rape statistics to be even higher--in other words, they want to see even more women raped.

Three peas in this pod.

That's why it's so funny watching all three of these jerks make such fools of themselves.

Rapes reported by victims soar by 48 per cent in just one year
Wednesday, 10 November 2010

THE number of reported rapes in Enfield has rocketed by almost 50 per cent.

According to the latest figures released by the Metropolitan Police, between September 2008 to September 2009 there were 82 reported rapes in Enfield. In the following 12 months there were 122 rapes – a rise of 48 per cent.

The pattern was repeated across London where there was also a rise, although at 32 per cent it was not as steep as in Enfield.

In neighbouring borough Haringey the number of rapes reported more than doubled, going from 61 in the 12 months to September 2009 to 142 in the following year.

But despite the huge increase in the number of reported rapes, including women and men, the conviction rate in the UK stands at just six per cent.

According to a police spokeswoman, the huge rise in the number of rapes is down to the way the crimes are recorded and a rise in the number of victims brave enough to come forward and report the crime.

Following the 2009 conviction of black cab driver John Worboys, from Enfield, who carried out a string of sexual assaults on women in the back of his taxi, more women may have decided to report an attack to the police.

It was after Worboys’ conviction that the Met centralised Sapphire, a unit set up to tackle sex attacks, so that rapes would no longer be dealt with by individual borough forces.

Among the cases dealt with in Enfield was the rape of a young man in December last year.

The 21-year-old was raped by two men after he accepted a lift home from a stranger following a night out in Enfield. No one has been charged with the crime.

After reporting a rape to the police, victims are offered counselling and medical care at one of three Haven centres in London, where staff are all trained to help victims.

According to a police spokeswoman, Sapphire officers are now concentrating on rapes carried out by strangers and bringing a higher number of rape cases to court.

A police spokeswoman said: “The new single command structure of Sapphire has created increased accountability, with better trained and more experienced staff and centralised intelligence.

“We continue to work to increase the number of cases which progress to trial and the Crown Prosecution Service has now established a specialist rape-charging centre for London, geared towards bringing robust cases to court as quickly as possible.

“We recognise not all victims of sexual offences desire a criminal justice outcome, nor is it possible to secure the level of evidence required for many cases to proceed to court.

“From 2010/11, victims’ satisfaction with how they were treated by officers will form a key performance target for the unit.”

http://www.northlondon-today.co.uk/News.cfm?id=39567&headline=Rapes%20reported%20by%20victims%20soar%20by%2048%20per%20cent%20in%20just%20one%20year

For instance, Billy Buffoon blamed Keri Potts in the near date rape experience she described by saying:
"It surely can happen to any woman dumb enough to end up in some guy apartment she just met alone in a foreign country".

According to the latest figures released by the Metropolitan Police, between September 2008 to September 2009 there were 82 reported rapes in Enfield. In the following 12 months there were 122 rapes – a rise of 48 per cent.

The pattern was repeated across London where there was also a rise, although at 32 per cent it was not as steep as in Enfield.