My son was sexually assaulted on the night of his 14th birthday by his brothers best friend.

Trigger ‼️ warning: Rape, Assault, child crimes.

December 29th 2019 my son turned 14. He was a handsome sweet guy that was quiet and didn’t have a lot of friends. He has a December birthday so it can often be difficult getting people together to celebrate with the holidays.

So, when he asked if his brothers best friend could spend the night with them and have cake. I didn’t think anything of it. I had older friends when I was growing up.

(his brother was 17 at the time. His friend was 19. They had gone to high school together and played in the marching band)

Covid happened at the beginning of 2020.

Sometimes during isolation, end of February maybe or beginning of March, my sons went to their stepdad and told him about the assault/rape. I remember screaming first. It was like someone just told me my child was dying. Then I started crying immediately. As a parent you always hope you can be a safe haven for your kids in times of extreme stress. I had never prepared for this. I always told myself I would protect them from this kind of thing. It could never happen to them. I tried my best to stay calm. I didnt.

After the boys told us about what happened, I decided to do the right thing and turn the young man into the police. But it was Covid and everything was in shutdown. So I waited until the first day the county police station opened back up and we went down there as a family.

In the mean time, the predator that attacked him in his sleep on his birthday, was constantly calling both my boys. Texting them non stop. I told both of them to cease communicating immediately. They did. The predator showed up at my door.

I remember the day my husband came into the office to tell me the predator was at our house, unannounced, sitting in our driveway. I was studying to my esthetics exam. My husband came into the room and said “If Roberto comes back, do you want to handle him or do you want me to?”

I said, “I want to handle him”.

I had been keeping an axe and hunting 🔪 by the door in case he tried to get to my kids again. My gut instinct told me to remove him from the planet. It told me to stop him right then and there from ever hurting another child.

But I didn’t. I wanted to let the justice system take care of him. I was raised to believe that you can’t take justice into your own hands. So I ignored my gut instinct and I went outside with no defensive measures.

I remember walking down the driveway and tapping on his car window. I know he was expecting something had happened. I saw his hands start shaking when I leaned forward to speak to him. I said “You are not welcome here. You will never be welcome here again. You will never see my children again. You will never hear their voices, see them — I don’t even want you to think about them. You are going to reverse out of my driveway and you will NEVER come back. And if you do? I will make sure you never make that mistake again. Do you understand?”

He had started crying, I guess from fear. Maybe remorse.

He backed out of the driveway and he left.

So then we went to the police station and filed reports. They interviewed him. He said the entire experience was terrifying.

I got a call a month or so later from someone saying they were the attorney appointed to the case and that Roberto pled guilty when the cops came to question him. I asked the attorney if they needed me or what I could do to help. They said nothing and to not show up unless called on. The attorney assured me he would go on a sex offenders list and never be able to be around kids again.

So we waited. I never heard back from the attorney. So I assumed it was handled and he was in prison. I have four children and at the time I worked 2 jobs. I was trying to help my one son recover. He got court appointed therapy. I placed my trust in the system.

So imagine my surprise in 2024 when my son started college with his older brother and they ran into the predator. He was going to college there.

So suddenly I’m in a panic. I realized I had been a fool not to follow up. I called every court office I could to try and find out what happened with the court case and why Roberto was free. Finally someone called me back and emailed me a copy of the “dismissal” in 2022. The reason I never heard back was because it took two years to go to court, then the judge said that regardless of the guilty plea, there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him. It was dismissed

I cried a lot. I contacted other attorneys. Nothing could be done. I’m still trying to get a ppo.

I remember the predators family accusing us of lying. I found out later my son had reported his assault to his school and no one reported it. He told his counselor and his home room teacher. No one told us.

He told his biological dad. His bio dad said they were lying and never told him. My son was a victim and he was accused of being a liar. He was bullied the rest of school and people said he loved being sexually attacked.

I would love to go to civil court over this, but I have already spent so much money on a different civil suit against a woman that sold me a business fraudulently (she had a salon that she sold us and forgot to mention she didn’t renew her salon license with state board).

I’ve been told that there is nothing I can do. I’m in therapy. I’m trying to get my son back into therapy.

My point of this post is just this: If you have children trust your instincts. If you are afraid to leave them or let them go with a friend? Trust your instinct. Never let anyone make you feel bad because you want to protect your children.

The predator had been my oldest son’s best friend all through middle school and high school. He groomed us. He bought them the nicest gifts and he even volunteered to be a pall bearer at my grandfathers funeral. The same man that carried my deceased grandfather to his final resting place, turned around and attacked my son. I didn’t even know he was attracted to men or more important: boys. No one told me.

Sometimes I wish I had taken that 🪓 with me that day.