The Devil You Know

I have been trying to figure out how to write this for a while now. Last year someone I've known on and off since I was in junior high disappeared for a while. I'd send him comic book links and nerd stuff on Facebook and he wouldn't respond or see any of them. Fast forward months later and a mutual acquaintance asked if I had heard from him and asked if I checked the sheriffs inmate site for him. I'm glad that the way my life is going no one thinks to do that if they don't hear from me. They just think I am dead. So I check the site and it showed that his bail was set at a million dollars and that he was charged with a felony.

Yeah. Imagine my surprise.

But this was just the beginning. I talked to my mother about this and a few friends about this and she said to call and just ask what he was locked up for. I didn't know it was that easy. The lady answered, I gave his name, and she was like “continuous abuse of a minor.” I said thank you and hung up like “What. The. Fuck.” I told someone else that has known him even longer than I did and he was in shock as well. I told the first person that got me onto this and she was doubtful of the charge while my brain immediately thought he was guilty because he's a guy.

Its not like he has ever given any hint that this was in him or anything. If he had I would have put my fist through his chest. A little bit later he pops up online again asking me for podcast tips. He calls and we talk about the podcast, comic book shit, and upcoming movies. The jail stuff never comes up but he says that he is going to sue for wrongful incrimination. This dude had a county job. I'd do the same. I say okay and we finish talking. Then a few weeks later or something he disappears again. Months later the same person that each of us knows mentions the jail shit again! I told her that I had already deleted him for his mysterious shit. Like, his last FB post was some shit like “Know that I did not go quietly.” I deleted him right after that. I knew him for a couple years in junior high and got back in touch in 2009. This wasn't a close friend and he was being spooky and I don't like spooky behavior.

It turns out that he was in the middle of a trial and decided to bounce the same day he made that FB post. Didn't hear from him or anything. Then four days or so later it turns out that he was arrested in Tennessee. He was found guilty on two felony counts of lewd acts upon a child (she was 12 years old and this took place between February and April of 2014) and faces a maximum of ten years in prison. She told someone at school and he was charged and during trial vanished. As far as I know he is still locked up in northern California and must register as a sex offender.

When I have talked to friends about this and they have asked how I felt I have said if he was innocent he wouldn't have run and if he is guilty he deserves way more than ten years in prison. If anyone molests a child they need to be put in prison for life or just killed because there is no rehab for that. I just hope the girl whose life he has done irreparable damage to gets help. And if you are reading this somehow, Q., never contact me. By the way, I am fully aware of my hypocritical stance on men abusing kids versus female teachers doing the same.