A 9-year-old Palm Coast boy is facing battery and lewd and lascivious molestation charges after he and a friend startled and got involved in sexual horseplay with two girls, an 11 year old and her friend, who were playing near one of the girls’ yard in the B-Section on Friday afternoon.
The 11-year-old girl, according to a Flagler County Sheriff’s report, had gone over to her friend’s house around 5 p.m. that afternoon. Around 7 p.m., they returned to their respective homes. The older girl told her 67-year-old grandfather (who has legal guardianship of the 11 year old) that she and her friend had been playing “fort” by the woodline when the two boys came up to them.
One of the girls recognized one of the boys as a student who rides the same bus to school with her. He was with a 9-year-old boy. The 9-year-old boy, one of the girls stated, “came up behind her and grabbed her breasts and kissed her on the right cheek,” according to the report, then tried to got on top of her and, as she struggled, told her: “Give me a hug or I am going to rape you.”
Both girls said they tried to walk away when apparently the younger boy (he was the one charged with battery, though the report redacts all identifying information), started hitting one of the girls on the forearm and right calf with a flipflop.
The report states that a call to the other girl revealed that her story matched that of her friend “word for word.” At that point, the sheriff’s office was called in.
An investigator “confirmed the entire account of the events that had taken place” and heard one of the girls state that “there was no skin on skin contact,” but that she showed a red mark with indentions on her left forearm and a similar mark on her right calf area, presumably from the alleged strikes with the flip-flop.
At the other girl’s house, the girl’s mother told the investigator that she saw the boys and told them to get off her property. She was unable to provide any information on either one or both of the suspects, but pointed to a nearby house where she believed one of them lives. There, the investigator made contact with the 14-year-old boy and his mother, 59, who is identified only by her first name, Aimee.
The boy confirmed to the investigator that he was playing with a friend that afternoon and that they did run into the girls. He said he saw the incident with the flipflop, “but thought that they were playing around,” and “did not see any other physical contact,” according to the report. Aimee provided an address for the younger boy, where the investigator made contact with his legal guardian, Michele, 54. The boy’s mother lives in Bunnell. Michele told the investigator that the 9-year-old boy “has been having some disciplinary issues, mainly at school.”
That afternoon, Michele told the investigator, the boy had been fishing with friends. The boy, whom the investigator spoke to interviewed in the presence of his guardian, denied the incident at first, but then “changed his story.” What he said is redacted from the report, but he continued to deny touching the girl.
The battery and lewd and lascivious molestation charges were signed and forwarded to the State Attorney for review. The boy was left in the custody of his legal guardian. The investigator also contacted the Department of Children and Families.
World gone Mad says
9 year old boy grabbing 11 year old girls. Wonder where he got that idea from ?
Freddy says
How many of you out there played doctor when you were young?
Sherry Epley says
OK you guys! This was NOT “playing doctor”. . . the girls did NOT join in the game! Did you read the part where he grabbed her breasts? Did you read the part where he jumped on top of her and threatened to rape her? Did you read the part where he hit her with a shoe?
This was a very traumatic incident for those girls! YOU should be ashamed for taking it so lightly and for essentially making fun of the victims!!!!!
Anonymous says
I agree!!!!
Bep says
This is why many never report and deal w/ the mental (& physical) trauma alone. Men do not understand and think it’s all a joke when it is very serious. This is sickening.
Brittany says
Freddy, I am sure a lot of people have played “doctor” without threatening to rape the other participants. Where the hell does a 9 year old see this type of behavior? Seriously sickening to see the future of the children these “parents” are raising!!!
Groot says
The rape remark and the hitting are a problem. The rape remake is really troubling. Oh yeah, DCF will fix this or kill the kids trying.
TeddyBallGame says
Now we’re demonizing 9 year old children (as long as they’re boys) in the name of political correctness.
Truth: Nothing is as mean, hurtful or harmful as a liberal with permission to hate
PS to the editor,
You’re letting your spell-checker do your thinking for you. “Misandry” is a real word. Look it up.
Katie says
“Misandry” doesn’t exist. Quit trying to belittle what happened to this girl in order to prove the “not all men” argument.
This is why cases like this hardly get dealt with in the way they should be.
Dave says
Another classic case of parents not spending enough time with their kids, I sure hope this young man gets the help that he needs before he really hurts a young girl, As for his parents they should be required to attend a parenting course .
Bep says
Amen!
rst says
I seriously doubt that a 9 year old boy is capable of raping anyone or anything. I also believe that he, or most, don’t even know what the term “rape” is. I shudder to think of how many children, that’s right, children would end up in the same circumstances had this been the case when I was a child. Remember SE in order to commit the crime of rape you must be able to carry it out and have knowledge of the outcome (intent) both of which a 9 year old is incapable of. Consequences yes; placed into the criminal justice system no. Again, SE have a glass of wine and take a bubble bath to soothe those nerves.
Anonymous says
I agree .
Anonymous says
What do we expect from a culture that has let everything out the bag. Definitely mimicry. But we were all young once and realized how foolish we were as a CHILD. The scare of police officials probably straightened him out. Lets hope better parenting can resolve these issues further with this child.
Retired FF says
“Where the hell does a 9 yr. old see this type of behavior?” Its on TV that is where. Many parents today do not screen what kids are watching. Look at the violence in the computer games kids play today. Young minds are to impressionable to be allowed to watch just anything and realize what is right and what is wrong. That is what parents are for! Oh that would require the parents to actually do some parenting.
Anonymous says
I’ve played “violent” video games, and watched “violent” movies my whole life and still have not raped anyone.
Bep says
Good one! Me neither!
Msbcart says
At least two of the four were with foster parents. (Legal guardians). What does that tell you about how they were raised.
Sherry Epley says
@Teddyballgame This is NOT about “political” correctness! This is about RESPECT and PROTECTION for girls and women! The grown up version of this incident is the Ray Rice video!!!
Hopefully you actually do believe in protecting young girls from this kind of traumatic treatment. If not, I pity the females in your sphere of influence. It would be of interest to hear you comments if they were presented under your actual given name. What are you hiding?
Your attitude about this situation reflects a very worrying undercurrent in our country that attempts to take every “human” story and puts a dividing “political” spin on it. I hear the ongoing drum beat of fear and hatred perpetuated by 24/7 Fox influence in your comments, and I am saddened and worried for you and for our country.
Sherry Epley says
@rst If I am the SE you are referring to, then have the courage to reveal your actual name. I, along with many other women in the community, deserve to know exactly who has this kind of condescending, patronizing, chauvinistic attitude!
Sherry Epley says
Rape Culture Is…
1. A university in Canada that allows the following student orientation chant: “Y is for your sister. O is for oh-so-tight. U is for underage. N is for no consent. G is for grab that ass.”
2. Pop music that tells women “you know you want it” because of these “blurred lines” (of consent).
3. A judge who sentenced only 30 days in jail to a 50-year-old man who raped a 14-year-old girl (who later committed suicide), and defended that the girl was “older than her chronological age.”
4. Mothers who blame girls for posting sexy selfies and leading their sons into sin, instead of talking with their sons about their responsibility for their own sexual expression.
5. Photo memes like this:
Source: Funny Junk
Source: Funny Junk
6. Supporting athletes who are charged with rape and calling their victims career-destroyers.
7. Companies that create decals of a woman bound and gagged in order to “promote their business.”
8. People who believe that girls “allow themselves to be raped.”
9. Journalists who substitute the word “sex” for “rape” – as if they’re the same thing.
10. Politicians distinguishing “legitimate rape” and stating that rape is “something that God intended to happen,” among other horrendous claims.
11. Calling college students who have the courage to report their rapes liars.
12. The ubiquity of street harassment – and how victims are told that they’re “overreacting” when they call it out.
13. Victims not being taken seriously when they report rapes to their university campuses.
14. Rape jokes – and people who defend them.
15. Sexual assault prevention education programs that focus on women being told to take measures to prevent rape instead of men being told not to rape.
16. The victimization of hospital patients, especially people with mental health issues and the elderly, by the very people who are there to protect them.
17. Reddit threads with titles like “You just have to make sure she’s dead” when linking to the story of a 13-year-old girl in Pakistan being raped and buried alive.
18. Reddit threads dedicated to men causing women pain during sex (I’m not going to give the thread credence by linking to it).
19. Twitter hashtags that support accused rapists and blame victims.
20. Publicly defending celebrities accused of rape just because they’re celebrities and ignoring or denouncing what the victim has to say.
21. Assuming that false reporting for sexual assault cases are the norm, when in reality, they’re only 2-8%, which is on par with grand theft auto.
22. Only 3% of rapists ever serving a day in jail.
23. Women feeling less safe walking the streets at night than men do.
24. 1-in-5 women and 1-in-71 men having reported experiencing rape.
25. The fact that we have to condition ourselves not to use violent language in our everyday conversations.
And the list could go on.
Because examples of rape culture are all around us. They permeate our society at individual, one-on-one levels, as well as in institutionalized, structured ways. That is, after all, exactly how oppression works.