It happened to me, can happen again


June 13, 2008 · Updated 4:29 PM 

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Regarding transitional housing for Level 3 sexual offenders, I need to share the following.

When I was 8 years old, a friendly carpenter remodeling the home next door invited me to look inside the empty house. Minutes later, he molested me. Only God knows what would have happened if the man had abducted me and taken me to another location, or if my mother didn’t yell for me to come home when she noticed I was not in the yard.

I am almost 40 years old, yet I can recall in vivid detail the events of that day. The sexual offender robbed me of my childhood innocence and gave me a distorted set of lenses to view life through.

I want those involved in the process of so-called transitioning of sexual offenders into society to realize one thing: If a child’s home is burglarized, the items can be replaced, and in time, the memory of the event can gradually fade. However, if a child has an encounter with a sexual offender, their childhood will be irreplaceably stolen, and the memory will never leave.

Alameta Hampton

Federal Way

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