By Gordon Dill
WSPA
November 14, 2011
www2.wspa.com/news/2011/nov/14/experts-say-recent-sex-abuse-arrests-fit-familiar--ar-2704524/
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GAFFNEY, S.C. -- They are attracted to the kinds of jobs that attract young children and to fit in they have to fly well under the radar.
Experts who study the sexual abuse of children say there are familiar patterns among the people arrested and charged.
"We're talking about someone who had a position of authority and power, someone who from all appearances appeared to be doing good work in the community and helping other people," said Shauna Galloway-Williams, the executive director of the Julie Valentine Center.
"Most times when this is happening the person who is committing the crime or the offense is someone who is known loved and trusted to the child and also to the family and many times to the community," she said.
High profile arrests at major universities and at an upstate college would appear to fit that profile.
At Penn State, a former football coach is charged with sexually abusing several young boys.
At the Citadel, a former coach is accused by two boys of sex acts in a dorm room.
At Limestone College in Gaffney, the FBI says a P.E. teacher and athletic trainer was molesting a young boy while video chatting with another man online.
"He seemed like a nice guy and everything. Totally was nice was not expecting it at all. It was just crazy when we heard about it," said one of Robert Kolodzy's students.
The school suspended Kolodzy without pay when it learned of the charges on Thursday and then fired him on Saturday morning.
Penny Saurino is an associate professor in the department of education at Limestone.
"It's not the man that's walking around with a raincoat on. It's the person who is the coach for your child it's the family minister the family priest it's the day care provider," Saurino said.
"Very often the person who is abusing your child is someone that the family knows well," she added.
Saurino is conducting two workshops to train parents in recognizing the signs that a child has been abused and in recognizing red flags in adults.
The course materials cost $10.
There are two dates for the courses :
November 22: 3:00PM - 6:00 PM Eastwood Library Curriculum Lab
December 3: 9:30AM - 12:30PM Eastwood Library Conference Room
Contact: psaurino@limestone.edu
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