ANOTHER reason to avoid public restrooms. Molestation charges!

[Wcross]

http://www.wsmv.com/news/11216009/detail.html

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- For the past eight months, Clarksville Dr. John Endsley was accused of molesting a child in a restaurant. Surveillance video showed Endsley entering the restroom.

“It’s been an expensive proposition to try and defend myself. We’re coping. Fortunately I’ve been able to keep the practice open despite having been dropped by Blue Cross Blue Shield. We’re hoping to get that resolved very shortly,” said Endsley.


This man has spent thousands of dollars defending himself against false allegations. He has lost thousands of dollars of income. All because a ten year old boy decided he was going to accuse the man of "fondling" him.
It could have been anyone who walked into that restroom. I firmly believe this child's parents owe restitution to this man.

[billyskank]

1. Avoid public restrooms?

At this rate you aren't going to have any public anything left in America!

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. The sad part is, we who work with children are told not to be in bathrooms with them.

For our own safety, we are told that if there is just one minor in a bathroom (and assuming it's a group bathroom, of course), we are not to use it - we have to wait for them to come out, or go in with another adult.

To avoid looking like we've done anything wrong, and also to avoid bogus accusations.

Sad, but that's the way of things nowadays.

[Evergreen Emerald]

7. I don't believe that is the way things are nowdays.

I wonder what the statistics are on false allegations of stranger child molestation. My guess is it is extremely small. I wonder what the stats are on child molestations. My guess is quite large.

This story is incomplete. And many times charges are dropped for a variety of reasons, even when the guy did it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Actually, yes, that is the way it is nowadays. Ask a teacher, ask a minister,

ask a childcare worker - they'll tell you: no going in the bathroom when only one child is in it.

No being in a car with only one child, no being alone with a child= anywhere: it's always two kids and one adult, or two adults and one kid, minimum.

That IS the way it is nowadays.

Feel free not to believe it; but it is a fact. And has been for some time. I've trained on this stuff every couple years for 20 years.

[Evergreen Emerald]

9. The way things are:

Children are molested and raped daily. And these stories in which false allegations are blown up and made to be more prevelant than they are does a disservice to children and victims of sexual assault.

If that is the way things are, then we are living in an Alice in Wonderland world where the victims are the enemy and the perps are under the cover of propaganda.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. You are talking about something completely different.

Of course there is a lot of molestation and rape. I wasn't talking about that at all - I was talking about the effect of it on people who work with children.

Why do you make the assumption that I am trying to say that all child abuse cases are made up by the kid? I never said such a thing and never would say such a thing, because it's patently not true - I'd say very few false allegations are made. All I'm talking about is the way that adults need nowadays to protect themselves from the possibility of being accused of something, or appearing to have done something, or putting kids in potentially risky situations.

:shrug:

[Evergreen Emerald]

11. ok, well then...

never mind.

I agree that people are afraid of false allegations. It is unfortunate, because false allegations are so rare. I have worked with victims of sexual assualt for a number of years as well, (thou not 20!)

[Danger Mouse]

17. Where I work, we don't even let two kids in the bathroom at the same time...

possibility of them molesting each other (or passing drugs, but that's another issue)
It's happened before...

[NashVegas]

28. Children Cannot "Molest" Each Other

Engaging in sexual play is not necessarily an offense. It's when one of the children is manipulated or coerced that it should be called 'molestation.'

[Danger Mouse]

40. A child can molest another child.

Especially if the other child is younger and easily coerced/manipulated.

[NashVegas]

41. Yes, But You Said "Each Other"

As in, mutually voluntary. I took issue with that.

[Danger Mouse]

42. Me use bad grammar sometimes.

Me am sorry.
As I explained in my reply to you, that's what I meant.

[NashVegas]

43. Me Understand

:)

[philosophie_en_rose]

30. You are right.

I sometimes think that these safety measures are ridiculous, but they do protect workers AND also children. If adults should not be alone with children, then they have less chance of being accused. If adults should not be alone (one on one) with children, there is less potential danger from the few bad seeds out there.

It is very sad. I would say that children almost never lie. Sometimes they don't remember, but they don't make shit up about this kind of thing. But I would also say that few adults molest children. Some are asshats to be sure, but few molest children. These procedures are designed to prevent the few adults (and very, very few children) that would take advantage of this situation from hurting others.

It's unfortunate, but necessary.

[Pushed To The Left]

44. Why do protecting children and protecting innocent people from false accusations

have to be mutually exclusive? I think we need to do both. Molesters need to pay for their crimes, but just like with any other crimes, there can be false accusations and/or wrongful convictions.

[alarimer]

15. Anybody remember the McMartin case?

turned out to be entirely bogus. Those people's lives were ruined because some little brat lied and some overzealous prosecutor believed her. And the climate of hysteria has not really changed. And I think it is hysteria. Most kids who are molested are not molested by strangers but by people they know.

[Liberal Veteran]

21. Or the Wenatchee "child sex ring" that wasn't....

The investigation started in January of 1995 when Detective Robert Perez was told by his foster daughter, Donna Perez, that she was sexually molested. She'd said she had been raped or molested by almost every adult she knew, and the same molestation had occurred to almost every other child she knew. On March 13, 1995, Perez put Donna in his police car with two social services caseworkers and they drove through Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. Donna pointed out houses and buildings where she says she and other children were repeatedly raped and molested since January of 1988. She listed 22 locations. During the tour she pointed to a delivery man and a taxi driver, and they were added to the caseworker's list.

Forty-three adults were then arrested on 29,726 charges of child sex abuse, involving 60 children. Parents and Sunday school teachers were charged and many were convicted of abusing children, often including their own, or their foster children. Pastor Robert Roberson was arrested after speaking out against other arrests, just as he had been warned he would be.

The courts ultimately determined the charges were not true, and found that the police had coerced children into giving false statements and false testimony in court. Dr. Phillip Esplin, a forensic psychologist for the National Institutes of Health's Child Witness Project said that "Wenatchee may be the worst example ever of mental health services being abused by a state ... to control and manage children who have been frightened and coerced into falsely accusing their parents and neighbors of the most heinous of crimes."

Those who were convicted were freed by higher courts and had their convictions overturned or pleaded guilty on lesser and usually unrelated charges. Five served their full sentences before their cases were overturned. Some lost parental rights.


Contrary to popular belief, children DO lie (whether intentionally, or by being coerced and convinced that something happened to them that didn't).

It is appalling that molestation is far too common in the world and we should take investigate any claim of sexual abuse seriously, but it does seem that the larger and more sensational stories (mostly involving large numbers of adults and kids in a small town or involving satanic ritual abuse) tend to be bogus for the most part.

I don't blame anyone who works with kids for doing everything they can to protect themselves from even the slightest hint of impropriety.

[Critters2]

26. We're told never to be alone with a kid anywhere for any reason.

Which made it fun for the one confirmand I had last year. I kept finding reasons to invite other adults to come to class--to talk about their faith, etc.

Our insurance company INSISTS I'm never alone with a kid, and the Conference and Association feel strongly about this, too.

[yurbud]

39. what if you teach kindergarten and some kid needs a wipe?

my brother had a problem with that in kindergarten.

[mzteris]

3. Why would the kid

have made the charge?

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Because he thought it might be funny. Perhaps he's a jerk. Maybe he wanted some attention.

Any number of reasons - ten year olds don't have much wisdom about what's funny and what isn't, and what the full ramifications of an act might be.

[mzteris]

14. or maybe - - -

it did happen?

Kids don't usually "joke" about molestations.

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. No, not usually. But you asked the question "Why would he make it up?"

and I offered plausible reasons for why a child might lie about being molested.

Whether it happened or not is up to the courts to decide; though we'll never actually know one way or another.

[mzteris]

18. it's possible, of course, but

the false accusations of molestation - especially of a complete stranger - has pretty slim odds of occuring, I think.

:shrug:

It's hard to tell from what little that is known.

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. Of course it's slim odds. The number of children with mental problems

sufficient to make false accusations (or with parents sick enough to tell them to) is pretty small.

But the reasons I gave are true and real for why a child would make false accusations.

And please don't read this that I am saying ALL children will make false accusations or that ALL children who make accusations are lying; clearly that is not the case.

Perhaps I am misreading you, and so I will ask for clarification, but as I read your posts, you seem to be saying that no child would ever make a false claim of molestation or abuse. Is that what you are saying? Or are we actually in agreement? I don't want to beat a dead horse if we're actually on the same side. :7

[mzteris]

33. it's much ado about nothing

- methinks we're more or less in agreement.

To recap:

MOST children won't make a false claim of molestation. Especially against a stranger. Some few children *might* under unusual circumstances.

If I were a betting person, however, knowing nothing more than what we do - I'd have to bet something happened there.

And if not *that* guy - then someone did something else that would warrant greater investigation.

[leeroysphitz]

25. .

[mzteris]

34. does this mean

you're in agreement?

[leeroysphitz]

37. I replied to the wrong post.

[mzteris]

38. does that mean -

you DON'T agree with me?


" . " is sooooooooo cryptic, ya know. ;)

[Kutjara]

27. Maybe the child was molested,...

...only not by the accused. This could have been a misdirected cry for help. I wonder if the child's family is hiding anything?

[mzteris]

35. hey - you

took the words right out of my mouth. I was just saying as much in another post.

[Truthiness Inspector]

4. How do we know the accusations are false?

I read the article at the link, and didn't see how the charges wound up being dropped. This is the first I've heard of this story, so there might be more to it and it simply wasn't included in this story. :shrug:

Considering how quickly pedophiles seize opportunities and act, I wouldn't let my kids (if I had any) go into a public restroom alone.

[NashVegas]

29. I Noticed That Too

I was very interesting in how it was worded. The only reason given for why charges were dropped was merely a speculation by the guy's attorney, and the phrasing used was nothing like "he admitted he was lying."

Then again, this is Nashville media - not the world's most thorough.

[sniffa]

5. oh, whew!

i thought this was gonna be about how gay peopLe accost straights in pubLic restrooms. that's a serious probLem.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

13. So did I.

[ruiner4u]

22. aww cmon..

its only a problem in gym showers

[Deja Q]

12. Children and their 'bright' ideas cost people way too fuckin' much these days.

The parents of the sodding little brat going after Dr Endsley owe him lots of money. Especially if they coached the kid...

[Midlodemocrat]

19. Except that for every one of them, goes a child who doesn't report it.

It's a vicious cycle. It needs to be broken.

[Deja Q]

36. A child's life ruined or an adult's... and if the child is caught lying,

how many more lives get ruined?

I think parents need to start teaching the concept of "tell the truth" a bit more often and turn the damn television off; the garbage shown on it today is beyond pathetic and depending on the source, it is a relevant factor in a child's life. Or even an adult's.

And, yes, child molestation has to stop. I was molested as a boy, myself... Too scared to tell anyone until I was an adult and then I wasn't believed anyway. So screw it; I'm getting on with life the best way I can.

[Wcross]

23. The thing that scares me is that he was going to trial.

The FACTS;
1) He was in the public restroom.
2) The 10 year old child made an accusation.
3) The child has no liability for ruining this mans life. It's just another game to him.

If there was ANY evidence to the kids story the charges wouldn't have been dropped. What if the kid had accused me with my limited assets? There would be a VERY good chance I would be in jail right now because I couldn't afford to defend myself.
I personally find it scary that all it takes is an accusation.

[philosophie_en_rose]

32. Are you a lawyer?

There could be many facts to support this kid's accusations that are not qualified to be evidence in a courtroom. Furthermore, there could be no evidence that could convict the accused in a court of law, but that does not mean that it didn't happen or that children should not report abuse.

Prosecutors cannot proceed with claims that they do not believe will be legally proven, but that doesn't even mean that they don't believe that it happened.

By the way, if it "only took an accusation," then the guy would be in jail. Clearly, your fear is unfounded.

[mainegreen]

24. So the doctor can't sue the child or the parents?

If its found the kid was intentionally lying, the kid should *at least* spend some time in juvie hall.

Sometimes I think that unless you're found guilty, certain charges should never be released to the public before a trail has been completed.

[Wapsie B]

31. I agree.

The Dr. deserves full restitution and the kid needs psychiatric help.