Protecting the Vulnerable from Sexual Abuse

By Frank Mortimer
Foxboro Reporter
May 17, 2013

http://www.foxbororeporter.com/articles/2013/05/16/news/13412772.txt

Surrounded by items from the Clothesline Project highlighting domestic abuse issues, panel members of last week’s sexual abuse forum are, from left: Foxboro Police Chief Edward O’Leary, Foxboro Schools Guidance Counselor Amy Muldowney, Meaghan Witherell and Susan Scarnecchis of New Hope, Norfolk Country Assistant District Attorney Jen Rowe and Tara Lemieux from HESSCO Elder Services. (Photo by Christine Igo Freeman)

Selectman James DeVellis's May 7 testimony at the Statehouse and a H.U.G.S. sexual violence prevention forum the next night in Foxboro drove home the urgency -- and some means -- of protecting those who are vulnerable to exploitation.

Underscoring that prevention of abuse is better than seeking justice long after the damage is done, Rev. Bill Dudley is frustrated that a heartbreaking local abuse case remains unresolved.

Dudley has been providing advocacy and emotional support for men reporting they were abused as children decades ago by Foxboro teacher, recreation swim director and scout leader William E. Sheehan.

"Basically, it's been a motor running in neutral since the survivors spoke at selectboard meeting on Feb. 5," Dudley said this week in an email. "We are still waiting, since last fall, for the psychiatrist's report as to (Sheehan's) mental competence."

Sheehan allegedly abused a number of Foxboro boys between the 1960s and 1981, before moving to Florida, where he was fired as a teacher after an incident involving a youth.

When Foxboro police took steps to arrest him several months ago, Sheehan, 74, was reportedly ill with Alzheimer's in a Fort Myers nursing home.

"Survivors still want answers and kids of today protected," Dudley said. "Jim Devellis, Mark Sullivan and Lynda Walsh have all been looking into these matters as much as they are able. However, nothing is complete yet."

DeVellis, along with one of Sheehan's reported victims, testified in front of the State Judiciary Committee at the Statehouse on the merits for Massachusetts to enact the Adam Walsh Act.

"Adam Walsh was a young boy abducted from a Florida shopping mall and later found murdered. In summary, the Act which is also referred to as SORNA (Sex Offender Registry and Notification Act) allows states to categorize, track, notify and in the end protect our children at a higher level throughout the country. Many states have enacted this but Massachusetts has not," DeVellis said.

Speaking to the senators and representatives on the Sheehan issue, DeVellis said the victims plead for answers to questions like, "How can a member of our community molest and rape kids over decades without notice or action?" and "How do these victims, who came to the authorities years ago, be told that either time clocks have expired or Sheehan is in Florida now and out of jurisdiction? We later came to find out Sheehan continued on where he left off in Foxboro and as a teacher in Florida was caught doing it there with very little notification back and forth."

DeVellis approached the committee with a question of his own:

What can he, as a selectman, do to help assure that this can never go undetected again in Foxboro?

He implored the Judiciary Committee to approve the Adam Walsh Act and give police, teachers, town officals and parents the tools to better protect kids.

"Hearing and seeing victims of priests, camp counselors and teachers speak with incredible frustration and anger about watching the criminal move and continue on doing it without being in jail or a least tracked was very infuriating," DeVellis said. "Listening to victims and parents of victims offer their testimony was one of the most powerful experiences I have had."

Members of Foxboro H.U.G.S. (Help Us Get Safe) and their associates share such feelings about their pain inflicted by predators and other abusers.

The organization, which has worked for domestic and other violence protection long before the Sheehan case re-surfaced last year, continued its mission last week with its program titled "Sexual Violence: Prevention at Every Stage & Age" at the middle school.

Police chief Edward O'Leary was the host. Among the speakers were Amy Muldowney, from the Foxboro Public Schools, who offered tips to parents on talking with their elementary-age children.

The program also offered guidance from New Hope, Inc., the District Attorney's office, and HESSCO Elder Services on sexual violence protection at various stages of life.