Creepy Old Man, part 3
Continued from previous entries: [ Part 1] [ Part 2]
So, creepy Uncle Sherman had done what child predators do best. He'd fooled me into thinking he was fairly harmless. But then he tried grooming a 9 year old girl, the granddaughter of very close friends of my in-laws. On the day of my brother-in-law's funeral.
He cornered the girl in an otherwise busy room, using his body to physically separate her from her parents and other relatives. He explained that he'd like to get to know her better. He handed her his contact card and said, "Send me email sometime, and I'll send you a toy."
WTF?
What legitimate interest does a 70+ year old man have in a 9 year old girl who isn't related to him and lives 400 miles away?
And, sheesh. He didn't even offer me one of his contact cards two days earlier after I expressed interest in his military service and his photography hobby. Oh, he showed me his cards, he just didn't give me one. "I save them for special people I meet," he explained. Not that I actually wanted one anyway.
Is anyone else here thinking that Sherman's attempt was about as obvious as, say:
But wait, it gets even better. Sherman was warned not to behave like this. As I said in part 1, he'd done it before. So on the first day of mourning at the house my brother in law gave him a stern talking-to. One of the house rules he laid down was, "You don't talk to any children in this house, period."
Thankfully, Sherman's attempt with the girl was witnessed by a friend of the family, a single dad with an adolescent daughter of his own. He broke up the conversation right away, quietly warned the girl's parents, and then late that evening-- after most of the guests had left the house-- told the rest of us. We convened an emergency family meeting and decided to bar Sherman from the house for good.
Addendum: During the family summit two other women present (other than Hawk) stated that Sherman had touched them inappropriately when they were younger (but 18+). A pall settled over the family and friends around the table as we all silently assessed how a culture of silence had enabled Sherman to hurt who-knows-how-many women over the course of who-knows-how-many years.
So, creepy Uncle Sherman had done what child predators do best. He'd fooled me into thinking he was fairly harmless. But then he tried grooming a 9 year old girl, the granddaughter of very close friends of my in-laws. On the day of my brother-in-law's funeral.
He cornered the girl in an otherwise busy room, using his body to physically separate her from her parents and other relatives. He explained that he'd like to get to know her better. He handed her his contact card and said, "Send me email sometime, and I'll send you a toy."
WTF?
What legitimate interest does a 70+ year old man have in a 9 year old girl who isn't related to him and lives 400 miles away?
And, sheesh. He didn't even offer me one of his contact cards two days earlier after I expressed interest in his military service and his photography hobby. Oh, he showed me his cards, he just didn't give me one. "I save them for special people I meet," he explained. Not that I actually wanted one anyway.
Is anyone else here thinking that Sherman's attempt was about as obvious as, say:
But wait, it gets even better. Sherman was warned not to behave like this. As I said in part 1, he'd done it before. So on the first day of mourning at the house my brother in law gave him a stern talking-to. One of the house rules he laid down was, "You don't talk to any children in this house, period."
Thankfully, Sherman's attempt with the girl was witnessed by a friend of the family, a single dad with an adolescent daughter of his own. He broke up the conversation right away, quietly warned the girl's parents, and then late that evening-- after most of the guests had left the house-- told the rest of us. We convened an emergency family meeting and decided to bar Sherman from the house for good.
Addendum: During the family summit two other women present (other than Hawk) stated that Sherman had touched them inappropriately when they were younger (but 18+). A pall settled over the family and friends around the table as we all silently assessed how a culture of silence had enabled Sherman to hurt who-knows-how-many women over the course of who-knows-how-many years.