Neighbors took matters into their own hands when they felt the court system, the Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services and the child?s own mother were failing to adequately protect a Severna Park teen from sexual abuse by her father.
The case only came to the attention of authorities, prosecutors said, after the 15-year-old victim told a friend in the neighborhood in June that her father was abusing her. The friend told her parents, who called police. The girl previously told her mother, who failed to take any action, prosecutors noted.
But theneighborhood?s involvement really escalated in July — after the man was arrested and confessed to touching his daughter?s breasts, buttocks and vagina about 10 times since the summer of 1999, according to charging documents. Nevertheless, he was allowed to return home while awaiting trial.
“I kept seeing his van in the driveway. I got curious and I said: ?What’s up with this? This man has confessed to molesting his daughter and he’s there every day,?” said Elizabeth Handy, one of the man?s neighbors.
Outraged, Handy and Peter Ayerle, another neighbor, started informing other neighbors.
It wasn?t long before the group started flooding the Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services with phone calls.
“Every night we wondered what life was like in the house for that little girl,” said Gail Eitel, another neighbor.
But their calls to the department were fruitless. Handy spoke with David Ladd, the assistant director of child welfare Intake at the Department of Social Services. He told her he couldn?t tell neighbors anything about the case, but he could listen. Unbeknown to them at the time, the department had closed its investigation of the man on July 5.
At the suggestion of Anne Arundel County Police Officer Patrick McLaughlin, the neighbors began contacting the prosecutor?s office instead.
Lining two rows of courtroom seats, 10 neighbors looked on Friday as prosecutor Laura Kiessling ripped into the defendant. They watched intently as Kiessling argued the man should have no contact with any of his children pending trial in November. The judge agreed.
Neighbors took some flack from the man?s attorney, who accused them of trying to rip the family apart. But Eitel, Handy and Pam Bustard, said they were only trying to protect the victim and the 28 other children who live in their neighborhood. Given the opportunity, they say they?d do it all again.
“In a heartbeat,” Eitel said.
Speaking out is ?very unusual?
Jennifer Pollitt-Hill, executive director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said community activism against alleged sex abusers is not common.
“That?s very unusual. For the most part, people try and hide those issues and don?t like to publicly speak about them,” she said.
Pollitt-Hill said this type of community activism works as long as community members are sensitive to the needs of the victim ? especially if he or she is a child.
“The child may feel very supported and that people believed her and cared enough to take action. It is hard to know how this is impacting the child though. … It could be very embarrassing.”
But, she added, “When we are talking about a child victim, you have to do what?s in the best interest of the child.”
