High School Rapist Orchestrates A Bullying Campaign That Forces Three Victims To Leave The School

In this horrifying, maddening story, a seemingly popular high schooler in Oklahoma raped 3 classmates, and was suspended for distributing a video he made of one of the rapes. From outside of school, he orchestrated his friends in a bullying campaign, which successfully chased all three of the victims from the school. And the other high school in town is frightening, because he has friends there, too.

His campaign was helped by the school administration. All three victims end up being suspended from school by the administration – in one case, because she went to school still affected by the drugs the rapist gave her to facilitate the rape. Other than suspending the rapist, the school – like the police – seems to have been a mix of useless and actively hostile to the best interests of the victims.

There are some people who support the victims – a friend of the rapist who nonetheless secretly made a recording of the rapist confessing, the mothers of the three girls (all of whom believed their girls), and a local feminist knitting group that took up the cause and (maybe) has begun to turn things around for these three girls. But on the whole, this is an infuriating, terrible story that shows how society, at almost every level, can be stacked up against young rape victims.

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28 Responses to High School Rapist Orchestrates A Bullying Campaign That Forces Three Victims To Leave The School

  1. 1
    Myca says:

    I encourage everyone to read the linked article. It is fucking nightmarish.

    From the story told by ‘Amber,’ a 14 year old girl drugged and raped, when she went to the school administration the morning after her rape, the school administrator called her mother and said,

    “Your daughter didn’t do anything she said she did last night. She didn’t go to church. She went off, did drugs, got into a car with boys.”

    and

    A couple days later, Amber says, the administrator left a phone message of her own for Lettie: Amber was suspended for 45 days, she said, for being under the influence of drugs on school property.

    Report your rape? We’ll do our best to get you in trouble with your mother, then suspend you.

    We know that few rapes are reported and fewer rapists are convicted, and that’s bad enough, but at least the rapists who are convicted might face actual penalties.

    What’s the penalty for someone like this administrator? Someone in a position of power who goes out of her way to be as cruel as possible to a teenage girl who’s still reeling from having just been raped?

    —Myca

  2. 2
    Pete Patriot says:

    Don’t let that shitty shitty site con you.

    Report your rape? We’ll do our best to get you in trouble with your mother, then suspend you.

    No. She didn’t report a rape. She admitted taking drugs and then broke down. I don’t know why you are treating the school like a narc, contacting someone parents in that case is perfectly appropriate.

    was suspended for distributing a video he made of one of the rapes.

    No. That’s Jezebel’s version. The only offical documemt we have, the actual letter from the school, says he was suspended for the alleged rape.

    the school … seems to have been a mix of useless and actively hostile to the best interests of the victims.

    The school has a responsibility towards all pupils. It’s in the best interest of victims that they’re allowed to beat up other kids and do as much drugs as they want, but it’s not in everyone elses.

  3. 3
    Jake Squid says:

    Yeah, how dare you question authority?

  4. 4
    Lee1 says:

    It’s in the best interest of victims that they’re allowed to beat up other kids and do as much drugs as they want

    It would be really hard to come up with a more disgusting , dishonest misrepresentation of the situation than this. So congratulations on that, Pete Patriot.

  5. 5
    Sundown says:

    Pete,

    Your comment is an awful one. That’s all I have to say about that.

  6. 6
    gin-and-whiskey says:

    That is a very unpleasant article. If Jezebel is correctly reporting then it sounds like someone should end up criminally charged. I would not be surprised if some administrators ended up being sued.

  7. 7
    Ampersand says:

    Pete:

    You’re banned from further participation in this thread. If you attempt to participate in this thread further, you’ll be banned from the blog. If you wish to disagree with being banned from this thread, take your disagreement to an open thread.

    The only offical documemt we have, the actual letter from the school, says he was suspended for the alleged rape.

    Actually, the document implies that, but it doesn’t actually say that. But thanks for the correction; I’ve edited the post.

  8. 8
    brian says:

    I know that one particular agency in my area does some work as victim’s advocates in these cases where law enforcement and other authorities drag their feet on dealing with the issues. I talked to one of their clinical directors for a few hours and could tell that the combination of counseling, case management and advocacy was doing a lot of good where it was needed. I have no idea how common this approach has gotten however. It seems like a lot of very good ideas sprout up and fail to spread. http://www.hruth.org/ if anyone’s looking for a good program to duplicate and tweak for your particular city or town. I plan on trying to get something similar going wherever I relocate to in a year.

    Is anyone aware of attempts to do something similar to the ACLU but focused on women’s rights, to provide advocacy, legal support etc. when crap like this crops up? I’m thinking volunteer lawyers, social workers, doctors, agreeing to work pro bono, some sort of state-by-state coordination. If it hasn’t been tried, I may have to brainstorm with some people on it.

  9. 9
    brian says:

    I know someone will misinterpret this immediately but you know who had the right idea? Fred Phelps. OK calm down, hear me out…

    He knew how to manipulate the media, attract attention, use the exact letter of the law to be able to do whatever it took to get the absolute maximum awareness of whatever it was that pissed him off that particular day. Seriously, try and think of ANY other group of about a dozen people that could get national news coverage in about twelve minutes. Terrible ends that Phelps fought for, but give the Devil his due on the means. I often wonder what he could have accomplished if he hadn’t been an asshole.

    Why the hell isn’t there a similar group making this Oklahoma case an international issue right this second? No offense to Jezebel, I’m glad they exist, but come on…. This is such an obvious “good versus evil” fight that I can’t believe it lasted longer than five minutes.

    http://www.wupr.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/i-cant-believe-we-still-have-to-protest.jpg

  10. 10
    Ampersand says:

    Phelps never did it “in about 12 minutes,” but they were adept at creating that illusion. Phelp’s group once picketed at a church building I was the assistant manager at (because gay weddings), and we – and the media – knew about it weeks in advance. They planned out those things a lot, and they were very experienced at making sure the media knew everything well in advance. They are/were also good at “piggybacking” their activities into already-existing national stories.

    I’m actually pretty impressed with the work the local activists in Oklahoma have been doing – in the last week, this case has gone from being totally unknown outside of people actually involved with the school, to getting national news coverage. I think it’ll continue to build.

    There are victim’s advocates groups in a lot of cities that do good work, but obviously lots of cities don’t have that. RAIIN has a searchable database of the the ones that exist (that they know of).

  11. 11
    RonF says:

    Well, I’ve read through this story and it seems pretty gruesome. If what I read there is true, it seems to me that the administrators should find a way to put a lot more effort into protecting this young woman from harassment from her classmates. It seems that schools have a gift for figuring out what’s simplest for them instead of best for their students sometimes.

  12. 12
    closetpuritan says:

    “It seems that schools have a gift for figuring out what’s simplest for them instead of best for their students sometimes.”

    That’s it in a nutshell.

  13. 13
    gin-and-whiskey says:

    It is very difficult to do the “protect” thing in the way that some folks want it implemented. Not all harms are either preventable or punishable.

    For example, how should you address the hostile friends of someone who is accused of rape?

    Should you discipline them if they act in a hostile way towards the accuser? What if their actions wouldn’t ordinarily lead to punishment, but it upsets that particular accuser?

    Should you discipline them because they believe the accused and not the accuser? Because they support the accused? How about if they act on that belief: if they spread the story from the accused’s perspective? If they suggest that the accuser is lying? And should your actions be affected by whether or not a formal hearing has been held yet, relating to guilt or innocence?

    There are a lot of positions with good arguments, across the spectrum. But none of them are obvious, and none of them are without a lot of collateral consequences.

  14. 14
    Copyleft says:

    It was responsible of Jezebel to at least acknowledge that we’re talking about allegations of rape, not proof or conviction. In all the rush to worry about ‘the victims,’ it’s important to remember that until clear-cut evidence is presented–and ideally, validated in a court–there are no “victims” or “rapists”–only accusers and accused.

    That darn ol’ presumption of innocence just will not go away, no matter how fast the court of public opinion rushes to judgment. (Yes, yes… this tiresome insistence on due process is the exact attitude making it so hard on rape victims, etc., etc., like that’s supposed to be the deciding factor.)

  15. 15
    brian says:

    The Court and the Jury has a presumption of innocence requiring “beyond a reasonable doubt” of evidence.

    I am an individual and I, like civil cases, only require a preponderance of evidence. If I or by extension other individuals not in a likely jury pool decide “yeah, I’m convinced” then we can say guilty. Unless I’m promoted to CNN news anchor.

  16. 16
    Copyleft says:

    Of course you can say it. And I can say that the accusers are liars based on the same lack of evidence and due process. But it’s interesting to see which uninformed opinion gets more headlines.

  17. 17
    Kate says:

    G & W @ 13
    What is the point of your handwringing? That is is too hard for schools to be expected to protect alleged rape victims from harassment? Tough. It’s their job to protect students, even when it’s not easy.

    Copyleft @ 14

    So, you think the testimony of three independent witnesses describing a similar pattern of attack; a video recording of one of the attacks made by the alleged rapist (itself a crime because the victim was underage); and an audio recording of the alleged rapist describing one of the attacks in a way that clearly fits the definition of rape doesn’t constitute “proof”. You also think that the school investigation, which resulted in the student’s expulsion, doesn’t constitute any sort of due process. What sort of evidence would you consider “clear cut” enough for one to legitimately decide to side with the alleged victims? On the other hand, what evidence do you have to support the assertion that the accusers are liars?

  18. 18
    Manju says:

    If the lead paragraph of the Jezebel article is accurate, the suspect has all but confessed to a rape.

    I’m waiting for an arrest. How long does that take?

  19. 19
    gin-and-whiskey says:

    Kate says:
    November 26, 2014 at 12:57 pm
    G & W @ 13
    What is the point of your handwringing? That is is too hard for schools to be expected to protect alleged rape victims from harassment? Tough. It’s their job to protect students, even when it’s not easy.

    No. My point is that if you look at a case and–as some people seem to want–implement rules which will “stop anything like this from ever happening again,
    those rules will have a lot of bad consequences. When you change (or implement) rules in the heat of an issue, those changes are usually not done well.

    In order to make a smart rule, for example, you need to look at it from the perspectives of both accused and accuser; both “bullied” and “bullies” as well. And you need to consider that not all accusers will be as sympathetic (or honest) as this one; not all accused will be so very unsympathetic as this one.

  20. 20
    kate says:

    First of all, we’re not talking about minor infractions. These girls were repeatedly threatened with physical violence, to such a degree that they were all afraid to stay in school. From the linked article:

    But even to call what allegedly happened at Norman “bullying” falls short. If the girls’ stories are accurate, their fellow students were engaged in a campaign of harassment, intimidation and silencing. Amber was specifically warned to “watch her back” if she talked about the rape, a statement that’s tantamount to witness tampering.

    And no one’s talking about randomly applying new rules. The suggestion in the article follows:

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a number of recommendations for preventing bullying in school settings, which, though very general, point to ways Norman could have improved their response. Among other things, the HHS guidelines recommend that staff should be trained to “intervene effectively on the spot,” and hold follow-up meetings with both the bullied student and the students(s) doing the bullying.

  21. 21
    gin-and-whiskey says:

    From the info we have to date, it sounds like almost any system–including a relatively loose one–would have addressed at least much (if not all) of the described conduct if it was implemented properly.

    Loose rules (like “follow up”) are often either meaningless, poorly enforced, or–worse–used as a strange exercise of poor discretion.

    You call it “hand wringing.” I don’t. A lot of bad laws (or rules) get passed in a hurry because people want to Stop This Happening Again. And using this case would probably lead to a bad law, because–as noted–this has an unusually sympathetic accuser, an unusually obnoxious accused, and a whole lot of what seems to be pretty compelling evidence, at least from third hand reporting. I think Jezebel can be a useful place to spread this type of news but I don’t think it’s a good site to work out the details of rules.

  22. 22
    kate says:

    From the info we have to date, it sounds like almost any system–including a relatively loose one–would have addressed at least much (if not all) of the described conduct if it was implemented properly.

    EXACTLY! So why all the irrelevant questions about policing people’s states of mind and strawmen about new rules enacted in haste?

  23. 23
    closetpuritan says:

    @Kate, gin-and-whiskey, Copyleft:
    I get the feeling that gin-and-whiskey and Copyleft are making general comments on rape and/or bullying cases and not responding to anything in particular in Amp’s post, this thread, or the Jezebel article.

    I think that if the allegations of harassment are true, even if the allegations of rape are not, the school should have been more proactive about the actual threats, at least.

    I thought the Jezebel article seemed pretty fair about presenting the administration’s side of things. They didn’t present “Brian’s” side of things, but when he declines to comment there’s not much they can do.

  24. 24
    Kate says:

    It does seem to be a problem that most anti-bullying initiatives have the potential to be used against bullied people defending themselves at least as much (if not more) than against bullies.

  25. 26
    Manju says:

    ^Whew. For a while there, I thought another story was developing.

  26. 27
    brian says:

    No, same one, but I liked this particular angle on the arrest. Wanted to make sure y’all saw it too.

  27. 28
    Manju says:

    I meant…since I read this story, I’ve been wondering why no arrest. So the other developing story would”ve been the behavior of the cops, not just the HS admin.