Rotten Mango - #186: The Middle School Library Rapist

Episode Date: August 3, 2022

He called it the “bear cave.” He liked the sound of it. Bears were unassuming predators… that kind of sounded like him. Inside his “bear cave” there was a desk, an inviting yellow beanbag, and of course, it was filled with snacks and sodas. Don’t forget his hidden condom box, a stack of porn magazines, and pillows hidden in a box that said “Christmas decorations.” The only really odd thing about his “cave?” - it was in the library of a local middle school. The teacher had been using it to sexually molest and rape dozens of middle school students. Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rambles. Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us, wherever we are, whenever we need it, download the free Peloton app today. Peloton app available through free tier, or pay to description starting at $12.99 per month. Better being better boot.

Welcome to this week's main episode of Rotten Mango. I'm your host, Stephanie Sue. He called it the bear cave. That's what he called it. He liked the sound of it. Maybe it's because a bear is a strong, unassuming predator. Okay, maybe you're scared of bears, but typically when you think of a bear, when you see a picture of a bear, especially when you were younger, they look cute. They're adorable, like little teddy bears standing in the woods. But did you know, the bear's bite can easily crush a bowling ball, and that's without trying.

Grizzly bears are even classified as cannibals, and they're great at covering their traps. They can stalk their prey, remember hot spots for food, they're really good at avoiding detection by hunters. It kind of sounded like him. A bear, he liked it. You know, the bear cave itself was just as terrifying

for the people that would have been inside. It was more of a small closet than anything. A small desk to one side, books lining the area, and inviting looking yellow bean bag off to one side. There was always sodas and candy in the room. I mean, it's a bear cave after all. A binder for National Geographic magazines was used as a makeshift condom box. A stack of porn magazines was always nearby.

A box that was labeled Christmas decorations actually had pillows and blankets inside. And under the bookshelf was a sleeping bag that was rolled up. He would often take it out and roll it out onto the floor to sleep and roll around. So it sounds like a bear cave, doesn't it? The only odd thing about this room was that it was in the library of a local middle school and a teacher had been using it to sexually molest and rape dozens of middle school students.

This, I, okay. As always, full show notes are available at rottingapodcast.com. I, my voice is shaking because I'm already angry just thinking about what we're about to get into. But please check out the book called Secret Lessons by Charles Bosworth, Jr. and Don W. Weber. Don W. Weber is actually the prosecutor on this case. Well, he was one of them.

It gets really messy. So if you, you're going to get a really in-depth look into this case with that book. It is difficult, nearly impossible to say that it's an enjoyable read because of the subject matter. It just makes your blood boil. The book goes over a very important, very heavy topic that has always been relevant and is still relevant. I think the predominant feeling that I felt while reading this was just rage.

It continues to amaze me that this kind of thing can happen at this magnitude and there's still people, oh, get this, there's still people that are going to be like, wait, with the 12-year-old must have seduced the teacher, right? So hopefully this case can bring awareness to inspire more parents to have productive conversations with their children. And I don't know, cultivate environments where children feel safe and comfortable enough to ask for help. And this is not me calling out parents.

I think most parents are amazing. They're setting their kids up for success, but not these parents. These parents, they suck. So get ready to get angry. And with that being said, let's get into it. Everyone hates a child molester until it's someone you know. That's how it goes, right? Oh no!

My brother can't be a child molester. Oh, this person is so nice. How can they be a child molester? I've never seen a single thing wrong with them. They're so good with kids. Hmm, so you're saying people don't like to believe it? Yeah, they don't like to believe-? Yeah, they don't like to believe. No, my uncle can't be a child molester. Even though he molested my kid, like, come on.

You know, people find a way to try to be like, no, there's no way. I think it's also a defense mechanism that's so toxic because then you're admitting that you didn't see it coming, that you should have protected those around you. Maybe people also don't want to feel like that's your family? Yeah, or associated. Yeah. So from the outside, I mean, this looked like any old middle school. Kids are out during recess, the slow zone around the school. I mean, the building looks secure enough.

But if you could hear the drama, the conversations that we're being had inside, you would be shocked. And no, it's not the drama between the kids. It's not the drama between 11-year-olds. I'm talking about the school staff during the faculty meetings. The school board felt like they were under attack. They felt like this was code red as red as it gets. Oftentimes, the staff would get so riled up that they'd be yelling at each other screaming nonsensical sentences like, I mean, why ruin a good man's life over a few dozen girls? I just don't get it!

Yeah, and did those girls even take a polygraph? How would we know that they're not just mad, that they got bad grades? You know, 12-year-old girls, I work with them on a daily basis, and they're ruthless. How do we even know that they're not lying? One of the teachers was so angry that he confronted one of the victims in the hallways.

God up in her face and said, you know, some girls should be painted red like fire hydrants so dogs can piss on them. How dare the students accuse one of them of Raven's sexual molestation? They would make sure that the girls regretted it, forever. Michelle said Lesick was just 11 years old. And this is the age where secrets are held as the highest priority. You don't have bills,

you don't have responsibilities, you just have the secrets of your friends, and you hold them so close to you like you're a little warrior. I mean, this is the currency of friendships when you're that young. And now, how well can you keep a secret? That is so important.

So Michelle knew that she was taking such a big risk by finally letting the secret out. The one that she and her friends had sworn an oath of secrecy to. The oath that was the most important thing in their lives, second to their families. The oath of secrecy that they would never ever tell anyone that Mr. Van Hook was assaulting them. Michelle had to take the risk though. She just couldn't take it anymore. Her life was falling apart. She's 11.

This is even before she starts a life. She felt panicked all the time. She felt her life slipping from her hands and at the same time she didn't want her friends to feel betrayed. They had already been through enough, but she did it. She spoke up. Her stepdad was a police officer. So she sat with them in their house and opened up the gates to what felt like hell for

this guy. He sat there probably trembling in anger. You know, he has to comfort Michelle while trying not to punch a hole through the nearest wall. He didn't want to show Michelle anything that he felt. Who was he to feel something when she had to live through that? So Michelle stepped out immediately reaches out to his colleagues and they in turn contacted a social worker

named Pamela Klein. Pam, Pam is gonna be a huge component of this case. Pam was brought in to talk with the girls. They're like 10, 13 years old. There's nine of them and the police just felt way in over their heads. They needed her to get the girls to open up, feel comfortable, tell them exactly what happened. I mean, this is such a delicate topic.

So on Friday night, nine very, very young girls, along with their parents, Pam climbed the social worker and the police officers, they gathered for a meeting at the City Council Hall. When Pam walked into the room, she saw the girls seated at a semicircular table that was way too big for them. It looked like little kids that were supposed to be in high chairs, but they were sitting in this big oak table, and it looked like the table was swallowing them whole, and they

just looked so terrified, and so small. Some of them were fidgeting nervously, they were locking their fingers, unlocking them. Others sat motionless, just staring off into the abyss, as if a portal was about to open and let out a big freaky monster. The fathers were behind the girls lined up against the wall. All of them had their arms crossed, anger was like flashing through their faces, shame, even, for not protecting their young daughters. The room was silent. Pam was freaking out. This is the most uninviting, unwelcoming place to get the girls to open up about something so traumatic.

So she asks parents, do you mind leaving the room? I need to talk to the girls alone. And girls, why don't you come join me on the floor? I hate these old tables anyway. So the girls, they're instantly relieved. They slid out from their uncomfortable chairs and they started visibly relaxing. They were on the ground, in a group, same level with one another. So they went in a circle and they said their names. Okay, let's get started. And then the tsunami came. Pam was struggling to keep up and not

drown. I mean, she's drowning in the heavy words, the stories, the emotions, the tears of these girls. It was a lot. The girls were almost tripping over one another trying to get their turn, but also wanting to hear out their friends and what they had experienced. One of them said, Mr. Van Hook French kissed me. Once he put his hand up my dress. Same. One time he walked behind me and unsit my jumpsuit. He touched my butt. What so sad is that the girl started crying the hardest, not when they were talking about their own stories, but when they realized that their friends had been hurt too. By the same man.

Some of them reached out to each other, started holding hands. He tried to kiss me too. He put his hands in my pants too. He did that to you. I can't believe it. He did the same thing to me. He always scared me one time he threw a chair across the room, so I was always scared to say no.

He's so scary. And one of the smallest, youngest little girls looked straight into Pam's eyes and said, he tried to play with my boobs, but I don't have any. And she wasn't being funny. Her eyes were searching Pam's face as if she was looking for an answer. Like as if she wanted to ask,

can you explain that? I don't understand this. Like can you give me a good reason so that I can make sense of it? Because I'm a kid, I don't get it. So that day on the floor of one of the massive rooms in the city council hall, the girls explained to Pam the event

that had kicked all of this off. There is Day-Danuary 7th. Michelle saw her friend Lori Parker run from the library. She was in tears. So Michelle is like, wait, what's Lori? Where are you going? Are you okay? Where are you going?

So down. And she's running after her. And both of them end up in the girls' restroom. At first, Lori's like, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it. Stop asking. She kept shutting Michelle out. But finally, she explained.

Mr. Van Hook told my teacher that I was in trouble and that I needed to come see him in the library. Apparently, Sally and I did something wrong, so we needed to come see him. Sally went in first and I was waiting outside. Sally would later say that Mr. Van Hook took her into his library office, the bear cave, and he held her and started rubbing the back of her hands with his fingers, caressing her. And he said, Sally, I don't know how to put this, but I just want to ask you something. How do you want to be treated?

Like a kid from my class? Like my daughter? Or like a grown-up? Sally was confused. I mean, what kind of person asks a kid that question? And Mr. Vanhook creepily groaned and put his face to her hair and said, God I wish you were 10 years younger or 10 years older. She's like 10. And then he hugged her and kissed her on the lips. He put his arms around her and tried to grab her behind.

Sally freaked out, pushed him away, and instead of seeming panicked, Mr. Vanhook just calmly got up and said, all right, well send Lorrie into the office now you're free to go. Sally ran out the door, Lorrie was pulled inside to the bear cave, and she was anxious. He had always been weird with her, like Lorrie had experiences. His favorite question to ask her was, Lorrie, do you want to be treated like a grown-up? And he would rub her and kiss her. Laurie said that he tried to kiss her on three different occasions. And on one occasion, he forced his tongue down her mouth, and he kept telling her the last time that I ever felt this way

about a woman was when I was in high school. She's 11. Laurie, it's been a really, really, really long time since anyone made me feel like this. Do you want me to treat you the way that I treat Michelle and Bobby Hunter? I tease them, you know? Perhaps you want me to treat you like a teenager, he asked. These girls weren't even teenagers yet. He would add to that, I don't care if you get me fired or send me to jail, I just don't want you thinking I'm a repissed because I've never felt this way about anyone before.

So the same thing that happened to Sally happens to Laurie and both of them run out of the library office in tears. And in their next class, when their faces were red from crying, they had to lie to their teacher and tell them, we just have stomach aches. Also, side note, Sally was 10 when this happened, she was one of the youngest girls in the group, and she described being kissed by Mr. Van Hook on about 15 separate occasions. He would hug her inappropriately, she would have to force him off. Another girl who was only 10, too, Paula, she said, one time she was in the hallway alone in front of the library.

There was nobody else, so like class was in session. Mr. Van Hook came up behind her, slipped his arms underneath hers, and grabbed her breast. He kept squeezing them and saying, take-all, take-all, take-all. And she froze because she didn't know what to do. And then finally, she was like, can you stop? And she tried to laugh nervously because she was terrified.

She didn't want to, you know, what all girls and all women are scared of, anger the guy. So she giggled. And he got up to her face and said, I bet you laugh like that when you get kissed, don't you. What does that even mean?

That's so creepy. Paulo is so scared. So these nine girls, they sat with Pam and they had all been abused in similar ways and they could all co-operate each other's stories. Mr. Van Hook didn't do much to hide his behavior. They said that he would fondle and kiss girls at the library even if other girls were present. Sometimes he would ask the girls in front of all of them, Hey, what would you do if we were alone in the back room?

The girls were like, what? Nothing. Sometimes he would try to entice them into the bear cave with the promise of a dollar. Other times, he would take polaroid pictures of students when they came to school wearing dresses. They would not consent to the pictures, but Mr. Van Huck would not only take the picture, but he would keep it on the bear cave desk. Pam was horrified. She was distressed. I mean, she's trying to hide all of that, because she doesn't want to alienate the girls. But she's shocked that nobody protected them, and it was only going to get worse. Because nine girls was far from the full scope of Richard Van Hook's perversions.

How many victims he truly has? We don't know, but we can assume it's in the dozens. Pam starts investigating after her meeting with the initial nine girls. And this is really stressful. At one point, she and a few investigators were interviewing a 19-year-old girl named Barbara. She was a former student of her church and Barbara sat down with them and she heard the allegations and her response wasn't surprised. It was just sadness and confusion. She said, oh, he's still doing that. What do you mean Barbara? What do you mean by it? Still doing that. Mr Van Helk was my diving coach back in the day when I was 13, 14. He would constantly touch my thighs, my back, and my butt. He said he was giving me diving directions, but

it was really uncomfortable. One time after swim practice, he dropped me off and pinned me up to his car door and kissed me. I obviously ran home and told my dad what was going on, and I'm not sure if my dad did or said anything, but Mr. Van Hook stopped bothering me, so I just assumed that he stopped doing that kind of stuff. This was such a pivotal moment for the investigators. They realized that this case of the rapist child predator teacher did not span back a few weeks but it would span back years which meant that there were victims from years if not like a decade ago.

Pam knew that this process was not going to be easy. I mean, it's never easy dealing with a crime like this, but now, add in the police work, the court work, the community work, I mean, imagine how a community is going to reel after something like this. So Pam put on her investigative hat, and she asked the original nine girls. Girls, by the way, if you had to pick one student

that you would call the teacher's pet or the favorite one, who would it be? Who is Mr. Van Hook's favorite? The girls look at each other, a bit hesitant. One of them finally speaks up. Catherine Howes, she and I were in class together last year and she is his favorite. He liked her the best.

He spent a lot of time with her. She's 12. Her dad's a Baptist minister. So Pam knew that her next order of business was to interview Catherine House. Pam had no idea what she was in for. Pam and a police officer go to the house residence and they knock on the door.

Catherine's parents open. Hi, Mr. and Mrs. House. We just come from the Caseyville Police Station and there were several parents here with their children who have made complaints against a Richard Van Hook a teacher They said that he has made sexual advances towards them and we'd like to speak to Catherine about it The look of terror on the house parents face. I mean Catherine's mom covered her mouth and let out a small weak gasp Hearing an allegation of this caliber about a teacher that your child has is shocking But the implication that Catherine might know something. I mean, I don't even know how I would handle that Catherine's mom went into denial at first and I don't hate her for it

She's not one of the evil parents. It didn't seem like bad intentions. I think she was like working through everything in her head So she just she said no, no there must be a mistake, please Richard is he's a fine man. He's done a lot for our family. He's been very good to Catherine. He knows things have been hard for us financially. And his wife even arranged us to save some money on the kids medical exams and vaccines. She's a nurse, his wife is a nurse. So we went to the doctor that she works for and they gave us a pro rated rate. and he's always been good to our Catherine. They have a good relationship. She's even been asked to babysit for him. Catherine's dad chimed in.

He's been wonderful to Catherine into us. He's a very caring man. I can't believe something like this. There's got to be some mistake, right? Mr. and Mrs. House. You Catherine babysit for Mr. Van Huck. And Catherine's mom said, no, there's always been some reason on why she, oh my god. Why wouldn't she go? Oh, she doesn't want to go.

She doesn't want to go. Oh, I see. And Catherine's mom stood there in the doorway and Pam said, she saw different emotions flash across her face. It's almost as if her own answer had enlightened her and frightened her all at once, and they pushed a little further. Have you noticed any changes in Catherine's behavior or moods lately? Well yes, oh my goodness, well for the last year or so she's been a lot moodyer and she's been spending more time alone in her room with the door locked. She's been short-tempered most

of the time, she's with four boys. They're younger than Catherine, and they call her Crabby Kate now. I just thought it was hormonal, normal puberty for a girl. This time when Pam asked to speak with Catherine, the house did not defend Mr. Van Hook. They just welcomed the officer in, in stunned silence, really. Catherine was alone when she was being questioned. The detective broke the silence and said, Catherine, we've been talking to some other girls from Caseyville School and they've been telling us some things about Mr. Van Hook.

Catherine's eyes widened. They were practically bulging out of her head. She started fidgeting nervously. Catherine, they said some things have happened to them and they gave us names of other kids to talk to. They told us that we should talk to you. They knew that you were close with Mr. Van Hunk and they knew that he was a friend of yours and your family.

Catherine looked even more scared. Pam could almost see the girl's mind searching for some way out. Catherine was clearly uncomfortable and scared. So Pam is like, God, this detective. It's like really not doing it for me. So she gently puts her hand on Katherine's arm and says, you're not in any trouble, Katherine. You haven't done anything wrong.

Listen, it's going to be okay, you know? The kids just referred to you and said that we should have her talk with you. That's all. And she's comforting her trying to build rapport and the detective just butts in. The other kids refer to you as a teacher's pet. What?

And Pam glared at the detective and Katherine Catherine dropped her shoulders, and tears just started dropping out onto her pants. And the detective pushed more. They said, Kate, did Mr. Van Hook ever kiss you? She's clearly in distress, and they're like, you're the teacher's pet, aren't you? Slowly, Catherine nodded and whispered, yes. And the detective pushed. Kate, will you look at me? He did more than kiss you, didn't ya? Slowly, Catherine nodded and whispered, yes. And the detective pushed. Kate, will you look at me?

He did more than kiss you, didn't he? It's okay to tell me if you did. We need to know. Pam's like what the heck. Pam pulls Catherine in for a comforting hug. Catherine, we have all the time in the world. I honestly know how difficult this is for you, and you don't have to tell us anything till you're ready.

We understand you're scared and you might even feel embarrassed, but you have nothing to be embarrassed about. And you've kept this for so long, you might feel better if this gets out. Katherine takes a deep breath and she's said, I don't even know where to start. Well, did he kiss you? He put his tongue in my mouth. Did he touch you? Yes, he put his hand in my pants.

Front or back? Both. And there was silence. And then Catherine and a barely audible whisper said, he put his thing in me. He put his penis in your vagina, and Catherine nodded. Did he do more than that? Sometimes he put his mouth on me down there.

And Catherine buried her face in a dowel and started sobbing uncontrollably. Mr. Van Huck had been Catherine's sixth grade teacher. She was 11 years old. What if comparing car insurance rates was as easy as putting on your favorite podcast? With Progressive, it is. Just visit the Progressive website to quote with all the coverages you want. You. With Progressive, it is. Just visit the Progressive

website to quote with all the coverage as you want. You'll see Progressive's direct rate, then their tool will provide options from other companies so you can compare. All you need to do is choose the rate and coverage you like. Quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 29 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates, comparison rates not available in all states or situations, prices vary based on how you buy. Why would you break into these apartments? For money, for drugs, whatever was in there. Why aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this?

No. Who's going to catch us? What a police. It was the height of the crack era, and instead of locking up drug dealers some New York City cops had become them This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the investigation that uncovered it all. Did you consider yourself a rat? 100% I saved my soul just like everybody else does. Listen to and follow the set an Odyssey Originals documentary podcast series

available now in the Odyssey app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your shows. I'm not a big guy man but but I love being that dirty mother f***er. The thing about Richard Van Huck is that he was a respectable man because nobody knew. I mean, he was if you didn't know him, if you were everybody else, sure, we could sit here and dwell on the fact that Richard's nickname was Dick, but we won't, at least not now. So Dick Wad, Richard, was born in Collinsville, Illinois, and okay, so this little city is

very pertinent to the story because this little city is split down the middle in terms of zoning for counties. Most cities there in one county, right? Well, majority of the city is in Madison County, but a smaller portion of the city belongs to St. Clair County, and this is all going to become very important later. So Richard, Dick, honestly, whatever you want to call him, because I have so many nicknames for this guy that are not so nice, and I'm not going to share them right now, but the guy was a pleasant-seeming man. He wasn't exceptionally handsome, but he was pretty good looking. He had these blue eyes, brown hair that he

liked to part down to one side. I mean, there was nothing in his life that really jumps out at me. There was not a single incident, no trauma, nothing story worthy, in the best way possible. He was raised in a respectable family. His dad was a machinist. His mom stayed home. And the vanhooks, you know, they're not wealthy, but they earned an honest living. The sky just had positive influences all around him. And it showed, you know, in his school, he got good grades, really good grades.

He was, I'm talking member of the science club, student council member. He took part in sports, he loved anything with water, swim team, diving team. As long as there was a bowl of liquid, he was jumping in. And with all of that going on, the sky still had time for friends. I mean, he was popular. So he gets to college, graduates, then he goes to get his PhD, which his PhD would take 10 years to get, but it was kind of two birds one stone.

He was working full time as a teacher while he was getting his PhD. And because he was getting a PhD, the government was like, you don't need to fight in Vietnam. You just stay here. We need you. And later, at 21 years old, Richard married to his high school sweetheart, Sandra Oliver. Now, I mean, I can't say that there was anything wild about their relationship. They did go on to have two kids, a boy, and

then a girl, and they were just so normal. You know, Sandra was a nurse and Richard was a teacher. In their free time, they went to church. Richard coached for swim and diving team at the high school. He would later transfer to a middle school because he said, I just vibe better with younger kids. So he really sounds picture perfect. Yeah. If anything, they're the type of couple where you're like, wow, healthcare and the education system, they're doing God's work.

Let me bring them a casserole. So Richard's in his groove and every teacher gets into career paths for vastly different reasons. But most of Richard's colleagues would tell him, you're just so good with kids. Like you genuinely never complain, you love working with kids and that is such an admirable irreplaceable trait in this type of field. That is until 37-year-old Mr. Van Hook was accused of being sexually inappropriate with a group of 12-year year old students. 12 year old students had accused Richard of kissing them, fondling them, and later of

wiping them. One of them alleged that he promised to divorce his wife for her because she made him feel like a teenager again, and then he would digitally penetrate her while forcing her to touch his penis. While he proudly told her that his penis's name was George and that all guys named their little penis's George. Just incredibly disturbing stuff. When the news broke Richard said the news rocked his world. It devastated his life, his family, but at least he had the support of the gracious community. All of his colleagues, fellow teachers, the school principal, AKA his boss,

the superintendent, the other staff members, they all stood by Richard. What? There's just no way. You know, the kids must have gotten the wrong person. Richard is, he's a respectable good man. I mean, I've seen the way that he is with these kids. He's a good teacher.

Others said, I have not once ever seen this guy be inappropriate. The community rallied behind Richard so much so to the point where they didn't even hear how ridiculous the words coming out of their mouths sounded. What did the girls take lie detector tests? How do we know if they're not making it up? Listen, I love freedom of speech or whatever, but imagine a world where we charge carons for every single dumb word that they speak. Such as, maybe the girls didn't like Mr. Van Hook because he gave them a bad grade.

Because they deserved it, they were asking for the bad grade. And instead of studying like I would do or my child would do, these little girls decided to get some sick revenge. And I say carons because a lot of his supporters were female colleagues, female teachers. They thought all these girls, dozens of them, were in on it together. You know how the initial nine girls they were friends? The rest of the girls? Dozens of them? They weren't even friends.

So it's not like a big group of friends got together and was like, let's ruin this guy's life. Some would say, you know, 12 years old they're just cold-hearted, ruthless, evil masterminds, right? So for the time being, the carons would look smug with themselves, because after fighting so hard for this man for no reason at all, Richard was cleared of his initial charges. So that must mean he's innocent, right? Again, everyone hates a child molester until it's someone you know, and Richard was someone the community thought they knew. Maybe everybody slept better at night thinking to themselves, Richard's not a predator,

because he's a teacher! To admit that he's a predator means that we didn't know, and we let him slip through the education cracks. And if there's Richard, there may be more. And that reality is harsher than a bunch of lying 12-year-olds. Richard was not only a teacher, but he was also assigned to work in the library. And as a treat to himself, he had turned a small closet like room into his own little office. The sign read, Bears Cave, Enter at your own risk. I mean,

it was very creepy. Even in front of the kids, Richard would refer to it as the Bears Cave. Hey, come down to the Bears Cave if you want a... you graded paper back. You want a soda? I got it in the bear cave. Now like any head librarian, Richard felt like he needed an assistant, and Catherine House was perfect for the job. During her lunch breaks she was told to come down to the library and put the books and the index cards away, or stamp the books when they were checked out. She liked it at first, I mean it was fun. Mr. Van Huck was super nice and he even let her goof off once in a while. He just loved goofing off with his students. Katherine noticed that. But she also noticed that he only goofed off with female students. Apparently with male students he had a very short temper and was much stricter on them when it came to grades. A ton of boy students were straight up terrified of her chard. I mean

even the girls were. Katherine said that she saw Mr. Van Hooks anger once. He was so upset that he kicked a chair over in front of the students, for no reason at all. But that would be far from the scariest thing about Richard. Slowly Catherine started to hear the whispers. One of his students talked about how she was molested by him, how he grabbed her butt and tried to kiss her.

But nobody believed her, not even her own friends. They all thought she was a bit weird. She was one of the first to come out. She went to the principal, and Mr. Van Hook had talked to all the other girls in the class, saying that this girl was just trying to get him in trouble because she's jealous that she's not his favorite. He talked about how he never touched her, and that he was shocked that she would make even these crazy allegations against him. It looked like he was looking for sympathy from these young girls. I mean, just think about how inappropriate this very action is.

He's being accused of molesting a student, so he talks to other students into siding with him and saying that she's a liar and complaining to them that he's not a molester. I mean, I already believe the girls, but if somebody didn't believe them, this should push them. Like, who does that? Confide with your family, your friends, your therapist. Why you, as a 37-year-old, are you talking to 12-year-olds about this? Richard got away from that allegation, and nothing happened. He didn't even get a slap on the wrist. It was considered a he said she said, and of course we believe the adult more,

because children lie. Who even came up with that, by the way. But the girls decided to be careful, regardless. A lot of the students they tried to stay in groups of like two to three, anytime they were around Richard. Richard didn't seem to notice, he continued to smile and joke around with them. Overall, he appeared pretty pleasant and welcoming. He liked bragging about himself a lot. But how good of a swimmer he was. Ooh, what a diver he was. One time he climbed onto a desk and showed everyone the correct diving form.

Nobody asked. The one thing that we can gather from this is that he loved the attention of middle schoolers. It's alarming. Richard also talked about his wife and kids, and he always talked about them with the utmost love and respect. So slowly, Catherine started easing back. She started easing back into

being friendly with Mr. Van Hook. Like not friendly in the sense of like you know she's 12 just being friendly of like joking around with him. Just being more relaxed around him and not being terrified. And then it happened to her. It was gradual at first. Richard slowly started getting more handsy. First it was a pat on the back. Then it was a pat and he wouldn't lift his hand for a while. Then another and then he tried to kiss her on the forehead. She didn't know what to think about it. It was weird but adults kiss kids on the forehead, right? Like sometimes when she saw her aunts,

they would kiss her on the forehead, goodbye. Maybe she was overthinking it. That makes sense. It's like a thing, right? But then soon after, Richard kissed her on the cheek. This time it was a little bit weird, she's only ever been kissed on the cheek by her parents. No teacher would do that, no other teacher had kissed her on the cheek, and you know what, now that she's thinking about no other teacher had kissed her on the forehead, either. Richard would say things like, you know, Katherine, you look a lot older than you really are.

You're 12, but you have the body of a 17-year-old. Your glasses make you look, ugh, than you really are. You're 12, but you have the body of a 17-year-old. Your glasses make you look older and more sophisticated. When you wear a little bit of makeup, it makes you look mature. You always wear the right amount of makeup. One time Richard told her that he couldn't look at Catherine in class. And she said, why did I do something wrong? No, because I'll lose my train of thought. You make me feel like a teenager again.

If only you were 10 years older. If only. Catherine didn't know what to think. And then the note came. Richard asked Catherine to meet him at the library for lunch. He wanted to talk in his office. Catherine probably prannicked when she saw the note. She didn't want to go because why would she and maybe she's in trouble?

She didn't know. So she found herself shaking, walking into this barricade, and behind the tiny little space, when she walked in she heard the lock click. The door was locked. It was just Richard and Catherine in the bear cave. She was alone with a bear. Richard immediately took a stride towards her and kept telling her, you are so sweet and so pretty. And how grown up your makeup makes you look, wow! You're making me feel like a teenager again. And without even asking, without even a warning, he started unbuttoning her bloss and rubbing her breast.

Katherine was so shocked and terrified. She just stood there, too frozen to say anything or do anything. And after a few minutes, he stopped and unlock the door and walked out. Katherine's head was spinning. Like, she knew it was wrong. She knew she hated this, but what does she do about it?

Why couldn't she say no? Why was she so scared? She was blaming herself. What could she do though? Tell her teacher? This is her teacher. And look at what happened to the last girl that said something.

Everyone thinks she's a weird liar now. So the very next day, Richard takes her back to his office during lunch, and this time he addresses her completely. Catherine is standing there shocked. She didn't know what to do. She just knew that this wasn't right. But he was her teacher, and she was just so confused like, how could she say no? And while all of these things are racing in her mind, Richard had removed his clothes, rolled out of sleeping bag on the floor, put a condom on, and he

asked Catherine, have you seen one of these? No, I don't know what that is. It's a rubber. He called it a rubber. This is important later. He didn't call it a condom. He called it a rubber. And he asked her, have you started your period yet?

Have you ever gotten your first period? No? Well, that's good, because that means you can't get pregnant, but I'll wear a condom anyway. Because I don't know. Richard is just so considerate when he's ripping children. And then he assaulted Catherine on the sleeping bag. She hated every second of it. This is when school is in session in a small closet in the library, not even in a storage basement. At the end of the school near the gym, like, it's literally

attached to the library. You walk out and you're smack dab in the middle of the library. Katherine hated every second of it. She was in pain. She couldn't wait for this to be over. She told him it hurt many times, and he would just apologize and slow down a bit. She thought that he would stop. When it was all over, Katherine ran to the bathroom, discussed it, and cried, and cried, and cried. But she couldn't escape him.

He was always there. Of course, he was he's a teacher at the school. Even close to New York's, he forced Catherine to give him a New Year's kiss. And for the rest of the school year, he proceeded to assault Catherine about twice a week. Sometimes he ripped her. Other times, he rubbed himself against her legs until quote, sticky stuff came out. Or he put his mouth on her private parts. And in the end he would use tissues to clean up and he would give Catherine some. Catherine said that each assault probably lasted anywhere between 20 to 30 minutes, and sometimes before the assaults he would show her porn magazines. And tell her creepily

that he loved her so much, that his wife was ugly and he's not sexually attracted to his wife anymore. He even mentioned that his wife had to have surgery for cancer, which made her even uglier. Which like, what? Catherine did everything that she could to try and avoid Mr. Van Hook at school. She would hide in the bathrooms, literally duck behind lockers if she saw him coming down the hall, but Mr. Van Hook would hunt her down. He would task a student with finding Catherine and bringing her to the library.

One time he even waited outside the girls' bathroom for Catherine to get out, so she jumped out the bathroom window to avoid him. She felt like this was her way of saying no, because in that room she's 12. He's 37. He's the one with the power not just an age but size manipulation experience and he's the damn teacher. He's supposed to be keeping her safe. Catherine said that she could max go two to three days avoiding him. He would always on her down. So soon she started skipping school altogether. She faked being sick.

And that grew old and her mom didn't believe her. So then she had to shove her fingers down her throat to throw up so her mom would keep her home. Catherine felt that the walls were closing in. There was no escape. She tried to convince herself, okay, if I can't escape this, then maybe it's not that bad.

He compliments me and he gives me gifts here and there, but it's okay. But it just felt so sick. An incredibly sick way of repaying Catherine. He started giving her answer sheets to test and homework questions. And on her birthday He gave her a little card where he drew Winnie the poo Winnie the fucking poo

I mean he knows how young this girl is if you're drawing Winnie the poo on her birthday card He drew Winnie the poo and threw five dollars inside Catherine felt so gross. He even gifted her a key chain once with the word love on it and Catherine didn't tell anyone. She didn't tell her best friends, not her parents, no one. But she came close. She felt like the words were just gonna spill out of her mouth. She just wanted to blurt it out. But she was scared nobody would believe her.

Or worse, people were gonna get mad at her. So when it was finally summer break, Catherine's over the freaking moon. She's gonna leave and transfer to a new school the nightmares over. But a few days ago. Mr. Van Hood called Catherine a few days before Pam came to talk to her and said, there's another student. Lori do you remember her? Well she's spreading rumors about me Catherine can you believe it? She says I'm being creepy with her. Do you mind calling Lori and her friends and convincing them to quit it? Just imagine having your abuser call you to ask you to stop another victim from ratting

him out. When Catherine was done telling her story, Pam and the detective they were at a loss for words. They trusted her fully. They didn't even have an inkling of doubt, but credibility becomes a huge point of contention in this case, so that's why I have to point it out. Pam said, first of all, Catherine had no reason to lie. Secondly, all the stuff that she said, the language that she used, were not things that

a 12-year-old would call. Like she, no 12-year-old girl at this time called Condom's Rubbers. Does that sound like a 12-year-old girl or a 30-something-year-old man? Rubbers? She even heartbreakingly said, he wanted me to help put it on, but I didn't want to touch it. Then there was Catherine's body language as she told her story. I mean, it was clearly weighing down on her.

She was embarrassed, mortified, scared. She was sobbing. She hit her eyes because she felt so embarrassed. Her face would turn red. Bottom line, there is no reason for anyone to doubt the truthfulness of Catherine's story, which is depressing that I even have to point that out, but that's the world that we live in. And at the end of the interview, Katherine heartbreakingly said,

I always felt so alone. I never thought that other girls were going through this. I thought maybe there was something wrong with me, and that's how he did those things to me. And that right there was the fuel that Pam and the officers needed, not for the evidence of this case, but they were so beyond infuriated. Pam was someone on a mission. She was going to protect these girls if this was the last thing that she ever did. The police did not have enough to arrest Richard immediately, but they thought that they could work with the school to make sure that when Monday rolls around, because

this was the weekend, that Richard wouldn't be around the children. Every day was important. It was the utmost importance he's actively assaulting and molesting girls. So the detectives, they go and have a, you know, a little talk with the superintendent of the school. And the reaction, the whole energy was baffling. Like, what would you imagine is the right reaction? I would imagine the superintendent is shocked, disgusted, upset that this happened under his watch. Maybe even stressed about the headache that's about to come. Maybe he's not even emotional, but thinking about how am I going to deal with these parents? These upset parents, oh, I need a set-up counseling for these girls.

That's what you would think, right? You would think that he would say, oh, officers, anything you need, I want to be service of you and to the families, but that didn't even come close. The police filled the superintendent on the situation and it was a lot. Sir, multiple young girls have come out to say that he has been molesting them, Catherine said that she has been raped. It is very likely that criminal charges will soon follow and it is an immediate concern since it's possible that there will be more young victims and are more young victims

that we haven't talked to. They straight up told him like we would appreciate if you could suspend him on Monday. Don't let him have access to children. The superintendent looked distressed. When he said, not sure if that's even possible, I have to contact the school board, but more importantly, officers, I do have a quick question. Do they take a polygraph? The girls?

I mean, imagine these are the teachers. Yeah, these are the people in charge of the teachers. That's why kids can't say anything. Yeah. I do think that we are getting better from, I do think the older generations, like teachers and school boards had a lot of authority and they still do, but I feel like these days,

parents are a lot ficed year, even in terms of reacting to teachers and stuff, but the police are like, excuse me? You know, like one of those lie detector tests. We know what a polygraph is. We know. It's just, are you kidding me right now? Like the superintendent is implying

that a group of young girls are lying. He had instantly, without even regard to anything or even taking an educated look at the case, had chosen to back up his employee, Richard Van Hook. He didn't even show a shred of concern to his students. The victims, I mean Pam, with fuming, you could see the steam pumping out of her ears. But this was just the start of the mind-boggling pushback.

The following day, the police had to interview all the girls again, separately this time. And when they picked up one of the girls from her house, Bethany was crying in her driveway. What's wrong, Bethany? Bethany's mom came out of the house screaming. You, you police officers should feel crazy about raising such allegations against

one of the finest teachers I have ever met. Richard Vanhook would never do such a thing. Why are you getting my daughter involved? And she got down to her daughter's eye level Grabbed her by the shoulders and said there will be hell to pay when your daddy comes home Can you believe this this mother is threatening her own daughter for being a victim of a pedophile and a predator and later Bethany cried to the police and said, can you please tear up my police reports? They said, why?

Because mom and dad are so mad at me for talking to you, I think they're going to kill me. And a few days later, one of Bethany's classmates reported seeing Bethany with bruises on her face. What's the deal? Like, why are they so... I guess they think Bethany's lying.

And you're like, oh my god how can things get worse from here what they can and they do the prosecutor's office on this case decided the best way to prep these young girls for trial was to traumatize them further which this is before the laws were made so that victims could pre-record their testimonies and stuff the prosecutors just start grilling the girls and traumatizing them so that they could quote be prepared for trial. I mean, what kind of thinking is that? They would say things like, why didn't you tell your parents when it all started? I don't know, I didn't know what to do, I was scared and I was confused and I didn't want

them to be mad and I didn't want to hurt my parents. Do you use condoms with your boyfriend? What? I never did any of that stuff. Why are you being so mean to me? Why are you asking me that? I'm just showing you in your parents what it's going to be like when you have to testify in court and our cross examine by the defense attorney.

One of the girls, Pam said it was heartbreaking. One of the girls said, I don't understand, I thought you were supposed to be my friend. The girls left the office sobbing and every single one of them wished that they had never sent anything. Because in that moment, Mr. Van Huck was right. No one would take the word of a kid over a teacher. And a lot of people didn't. Investigators interview 13 teachers, three teachers' aides, two janitors in a secretary, and each one said, Richard has never done anything improper.

I've never seen his bare-cave door locked. I've never seen him kiss, fondle, or molester student. I mean, we all unanimously think that Richard was a fine teacher. A wonderful man that is now the victim of some horrible, horrible, malicious rumors. They were all rallying around Richard, trying to protect him. With Wilde's at ten of these staff members were woman, and they supported Richard blindly. Not only that, but they had no sympathy for any of the victims. One of the students, one of the teacher straight-up said,

I think Dick is one of the best models for the students I've seen. He's done really good things for the kids. He's gone beyond the call of duty many times. And to that, I have to say, ma'am, Karen, did he pick you? Some teachers even went as far to talk to the parents and tried to convince them that their daughters were exaggerating their claims. But the biggest blow came when the prosecutors issued their charges. Instead of felony charges, Richard received three misdemeanor charges for contributing to

the sexual delinquency of a minor. Let's hear that again. Three misdemeanor charges. How? Yeah. So, you would think that he would be facing felony charges for statutory rates, child malistration. I mean, what? These misdemeanor charges were a joke.

They carried a max sentence of a year in the county jail and a thousand dollar fine. That's the maximum. I mean, surely what happened to Catherine Howe's alone justified felony charges, surely, right? Well, the prosecutors didn't think so. In fact, they didn't even include Catherine in their charges. It's likely that the prosecutors just wanted to get this over

with as quickly and as quietly as possible and move on. It was starting to feel like everyone wanted to believe that this charming, well-respected man, the whole motto of this case was, why ruin a good man's life over a dozen young girls? I always find that phrase so fascinating to me. Yeah, I don't understand what that even calls from. You're automatically valuing a man's life higher,

to make things even more unbelievable. Because yeah, I can be. The principal stated that Mr. Van Hook had received a few complaints before. He had given a student a smooch on the cheek, they said. The principal saw it with his own two eyes. But he thought it was more endearing and supportive than creepy, you know, just normal teacher stuff. The principal also remembered an incident that happened about a year ago.

A girl named Susan, just before Thanksgiving, complained that Mr. Van Hooks had fondled her breast. Richard said, wait, no way. And if I did, and if I fondled her butt like she said I also did, it was probably of like a pad on the back to be like, come on now, get moving, let's go. The principal believed it, which I'm sorry, is everybody just a predator because that's clearly inappropriate. Like even if you believe Richard smacked a kid on the butt to get say, like, come on, let's go.

That's your teacher, that's a student. That's not acceptable. Susan, the student that reported the fondling, her mental health deteriorated after this because even her parents accused her of lying. She was admitted into the hospital for psychiatric treatment where she would be treated for, quote, pathological lying. What?

She spent months in the hospital. When she finally got back to school, guess what? She was scheduled in Mr. Van Hooke's class. Yeah, nobody believed poor Susan. Nobody cared for poor Susan. But Pam did? Yeah, nobody believed poor Susan. Nobody cared for poor Susan. But panned it. By the end of the investigation, they interviewed a total of 54 girls. Not all of them had been victims, but a big, big group had. The rest had either been target of, had been the target of weird and inappropriate

comments, or they simply witnessed the growing and molestation of other girls. I mean still the sheer number of girls at this case in Compass is insane. Side note, a lot of the girls had to testify and it was rough. So they had to do a grand jury first, which is the jury is going to decide if they're going to go forward with the trial. And they would have to sit in front of the whole grand jury, barely a teenager, and recount the most traumatic moments of their lives that would even rip a full grown adult apart while their abusers in the room staring at them. And in the back of your mind, you even know that your abuser has a hoard of supporters that are sitting right behind him in the courtroom. Because you're a what? You're a liar, a slut, an attention whore, upset that you

got bad grades. And since I've already worked you up, let's hear what the grand jury decided. They returned a decision against issuing felony charges and they recommended the misdemeanor charges be dismissed. Richard was allowed to bring character witnesses, which is highly unusual for a grand jury trial. And everyone that took the stand sucked dick's dick. And then Dick himself took the stand and sucked his own dick in the most acrobatic performance of his freaking life. And everyone was like, this one's too nice to be a child molester.

We need to acquit this man. Because everybody hates a child molester until it's someone you know. They really just chose some random character witnesses over the testimonies of 12 year old girls. Multiple girls, dozens of girls. Multiple girls. Tessons of girls. Pam and the police were stunned.

They did not even understand how something like this was even possible. And to add insult to injury for the victims, Richard gave statements to local newspapers. And this is what he had to say about this whole experience. He said, I've been through 31 days of hell and the last week of waiting has been a lot. The nightmare continues as to why. I don't think I'll ever know. I lost 23 pounds during this ordeal and I just want to get back to my classroom as soon as possible.

I think that this episode will change the way that myself and many other teachers act towards our students. I know that I'll be using verbal rewards and cutting out paths on the back for a very very long time now. Richard said he now flinched any time he was near one of his students, but the experience brought him closer to his family and the support from his students, colleagues, and community members he said that he had more than a hundred phone calls and 70 letters from well-wishers. His church had even set up a legal fund for him. People donated to pay for the sky's legal fees. Yeah, good for you, Dick. I'm so fucking happy that it all worked out for you.

Other people made supportive comments as well. The school PTA president said, she was confident that Richard was innocent and said, the majority of the people I've talked to didn't believe it to begin with. Most of the people I've talked to during this whole ordeal, they feel the same way I do. And my son is in Richard's class, and he's looking forward to, you know, having Richard as his teacher when he returns to school. Okay, well, he was molesting girls, so.

I don't know how that does anything. Like why even throw that in there? Richard said in another interview, I can't have any ill feelings toward the girls or the students, I feel very have any ill feelings toward the girls or the students. I feel very positive towards the state attorney's office because they were the first ones to give me a chance to give my side. When the articles first came out, I felt destroyed.

I went through a period of what I would consider as close to hell as you could be. Then all of a sudden, I saw a light there. The letters from my students this year, I'm going to put them someplace special forever. I'm gonna put them someplace special, forever. I'm just, I'm just so anxious to return to class. There are kids that I'm trying to mold and have them become better people, and I hope that they haven't been affected too much by this.

I believe the classroom is where I belong. Pam felt sick. She immediately got to work. She was pissed reading about all of this, and I'm gonna be honest with you. Pam reached out to her friend, Don Webner, the co-author of this book. He was the state attorney in Madison County,

the other county that occupies this city. He was known as one of the more aggressive state attorneys, passionate, he focused on sexual abuse cases, and he was one that you would definitely not want on the opposing team. I'm so glad that this is not over, because I thought it was. Oh my God.

Yeah. So Don, the only other problem was that he had no jurisdiction on this case. He was in the other county, this whole school, all the residents, they were not in Madison County. So Pam had initially reached out to him for advice. And Don had already heard of the case. It was everywhere. And he just said, find me one case, just one. Because if this guy is molesting students at school,

he must have molested other people. Find me one case that happened in Madison County. And I will prosecute with the fire burning passion of hell. And it wasn't a lot, but it was something to work with. Pam and the investigators started looking for a case to fit the criteria. They started looking for any and all loopholes. Dawn even tentatively cautiously approached Pam one day,

like he was approaching a mother bear with her cubs, and as gingerly as possible, Don said, do you mind if we administer polygraphs for the girls? Not because we don't believe them, but that was the biggest point of contention in the first grand jury trial. So we wanna make sure we dot our eyes and cross our teeth to no surprise, every single one of

those girls passed. And then the star witness was found. Sarah Louise Kramer. When investigators showed up at her door, her first reaction was, how did you find me? And they knew that something was behind those words. That was a loaded, loaded question. Sarah sat down with them and told her story. loaded, loaded question. Sarah sat down with them and told her story. I was in his eighth grade and ninth grade classes, and he asked me to babysit for him. I agreed. My parents were really proud of me because Mr. Van Hoke

was one of the more respected teachers and the fact that he chose me out of all of his students to trust with his own kids. They were so excited. They thought that I was such a responsible young girl. I went to his house for the first time on Saturday. It was actually my 13th birthday. There were some weird things like when we pulled into his driveway, he asked me to lay flat

on the back seat of the car. And then we pulled in. Now in hindsight, most likely he didn't want the neighbors to see me and his wife finding out. I didn't know that at the time though. I was 13. I thought that I was here for a babysitting job and I was gonna get paid. When Sarah got into the house,

she was surprised to see that there were no kids. She thought, oh, maybe where are they? Where are the kids? And Richard said, oh, they're off somewhere. Would you like to lie down on the sofa? Um, no, that's okay. And she sat down on the edge. And Richard switched on the TV and the living room

and said, hey, do you want a drink? Uh, no thanks. And soon he kneeled in front of her and started kissing her on the cheek. He played with her hair and then started unbuttoning her shirt. Sarah said that she froze. She couldn't even believe what the hell was happening and everything was going in slow motion. It felt like she couldn't talk or move.

And then eventually, Richard stood up, took her by her arm and took her into his son's room. Undressed her, and then himself, and pulled a condom out of his wallet. Richard even mentioned that when he bought the condom, the pharmacist's joke that his wife was going to have a good time tonight because the condoms were ribbed. I don't even know what to say. Sarah was too young to even understand the words coming out of his mouth. Richard put the condom on, got on top of Sarah, and assaulted her.

She said she felt paralyzed. She had no idea what was going on or how to stop it. She just laid there like a zombie. She was frozen in fear. She hoped that this was all a bad dream, and she was going to wake up soon. But she didn't. And it wasn't. When Richard was done, he cleaned himself up in the bathroom,

and he gave her a tour of the house, as if nothing had happened. He oddly even showed her a random towel in one of his dresser drawers, and he said, this is the towel my wife and I use when she's on her period and we decide to have sex. And before dropping Sarah off, he handed her babysitting money, and said if you tell anyone about this, well, first of all, no one's going to believe you, and secondly, all the teachers are going to gang up on you and they're going to make your life miserable. Which the sad part is, the teachers did gang up on the victims. Yeah, wow. Why? I just don't understand.

I don't know. I guess maybe it's a group of teachers like, you know, when you're in school, you'll have the good ones where the teachers genuinely care about the students. But maybe these teachers villainize the students and the students are the ones making their lives hard. So Sarah ran out the car, ran straight into her room and she told her only best friend who promised to never tell a soul. This best friend was interviewed at the same time, like right after this story, and she was able to corroborate the moment. And then Richard didn't bother Sarah for a while. Sarah said that she was dealing with so many emotions. And when Richard finally talked to her, he offered her a ride home. Sarah thought that he was going to apologize.

She just wanted an apology to understand what the hell happened. But instead, Richard took Sarah to his dad's house and raped her again. His dad's house, that was in Madison County. After this incident, Sarah told another friend, who was also able to corroborate the story years later. Sarah told the investigators that she had been waiting for them to come to her. She saw what happened on the news and she said,

I've been expecting you to find me. I don't know why. I've been laying awake at night for you to ring my bell. I guess there's a part of me that wanted someone to find me, to find out what happened, especially what happened to those girls. I mean, I was young enough when it happened, but now he's picking girls that are even younger and younger from what I saw in the news. I even tried calling the police multiple times that they had to keep investigating that the girls were telling the truth that this

happened to me, but I couldn't do it. There was no way to even tell you what that's been like. I couldn't tell anyone what he'd done. I was so humiliated and ashamed, and I couldn't even tell my parents because, you know, I was adopted. And they're older than most parents, and I didn't want them to stress. They're all I have, and even now I'm afraid that if my mom finds out this is going to kill her. She's so proud of me that such a nice teacher would ask me to babysit for his children. This whole case is so heartbreaking and then Sarah pulled out her yearbook. Mr. Van Hooks had left her a note in her yearbook. It said, Sarah,

here's wishing the best of everything to the best babysitter I ever had. You weren't a bad student either. I hope to see a lot of you to the best baby sitter I ever had. You weren't a bad student either. I hope to see a lot of you in the future. Always dick. But he underlined the words, best ever had. It was sick, twisted, and disgusting. Sarah took a lie detector test. She was not lying.

She was another victim. Dawn Weber filed charges against Richard and there would be another grand jury trial. Catherine and her friends from the first grand jury were invited to testify again. They had to repeat their traumatic stories for the umpteenth time. But they all rose to the challenge. They were confident.

They spoke with their chest. Sarah testified too. Meanwhile, Richard is sitting there being doded on by his wife and daughter. Like truly, they treated Richard like he was some sort of martyr. They hovered over him protectively as if one of the 12 year old girls was going to attack him. Don thought it was over the top. It was ridiculous. Richard took the stand again. Interestingly, every victim agreed to a lie detector test and passed. Richard refused to take a polygraph. And his whole defense was trying to tear

down Sarah. They said Sarah's a teen mom. So. So that means she's promiscuous? So. So that means she's seduced her teacher. What? Yeah, I don't even know what the defense is. That a full grown adult man was seduced by someone underage.

Yeah, no. No sympathy or understanding. That's not an excuse. That's still legal. You're disgusting. And he really tried to polish it. There's no way that I could have rips her on Saturday, like she said, because she said that I turned on the TV

before I raped her. Well guess what, that specific Saturday years ago, our TV was broken. That was a Zalapai. So after just 35 minutes, the jury found him guilty of 17 counts. Five felony counts of statutory rape and 12 felony counts of perjury from his first grand jury trial.

Richard was likely facing close to 20 years and he was led away in handcuffs. That's it? I know. That's crazy. You, all these underage women, that's what you get and there's people who done literally nothing in face 30 years. Yeah, there's 30 years. I'm just so confused.

There's people that get caught with weed three times, three strikes you're out and they get so much longer. Yeah, what I just... And when he was being led away in handcuffs, Richard's wife was like sobbing on the ground. And the girls were sitting in the courtroom and she screamed at them, you dirty filthy! And Richard's attorney held her back and said, no, Sandy, not now, not now. But one of the female teachers in the courtroom, she decided, now, she screamed at the victims, you little tramps, you little sluts, how dare you go through with this. The courtroom was silent. How do you refer to 12 to 13-year-olds as tramps and sluts?

You know what this teacher reminds me of? Because she's a female teacher. She reminds me of those old ladies that hate teenagers for being young. Like, I'm sorry that you're aging, but everybody ages, get over it, don't be jealous, get a grip. Horrifying.

I'm sorry, Richard didn't pick you. Another courtroom watcher screamed, you little liar! I wanted the victims. And one of the female teachers not only vatched for Richard, but they later said, Oh, you know, this whole case boils down to, you know, the highly emotional crushes junior high school girls develop for young male teachers.

Oh, it sounds like you're the one that has a crush on that. Yeah. Because what are you saying? She said coupled with the girls' attraction to the teacher and, you know, gossip and lies and exaggerating, This whole rumor became this big thing and they all just wanted to be part of something and make it bigger than it was. And you know, adolescent girls, they have considerable difficulty in distinguishing between fantasy and reality. These people were not the exception because after all of this, after all of this,

all around town you would see people holding up signs that said, we believe Mr. Van Hook. They would have Mr. Van Hook as innocent stickers on their car. Oh my God. Oh my God What kind of world are we living in yeah the victims? They lived in fear They felt like they had a target on their backs for what for being molested by a teacher They were being retraumatized over and over and over again a lot of them had PTSD They started struggling immensely with their mental health, and before Richard was sentenced, he was let out on bail, and he took his own life, with a gunshot to the head. In his car, near the lake. Personally, I don't feel

bad that there's one less child molester in the world, and that taxpayers don't have to cover his prison fees. On the other hand, his suicide was the last fuck you to the victims. He even left four suicide notes in which he maintained his innocence and basically victim blamed. He wrote that there was a conspiracy out to get him, the conspirators, where the girls, the police, and the media. He said that he was left dead inside by their heinous actions and he wanted to spare his family more hurt.

The man really thought that he was going to be a martyr. No sir, you're just a predator, not a martyr. And this is the part that's going to piss you off as a sprinkle of insult to this rotten cake. The school board offered counseling for Richard's fellow teachers and colleagues so they could process his suicide. Meanwhile, the school board never offered any counseling

to Richard's actual victims. The children, the children that they literally are there to protect. That is their job. Just make it make sense. When will we care about our children? Or any victims of rape? And that is the story of Richard Van Hook. Just a blood boiling, enraging story.

Please stay safe out there, and I will see you guys on Sunday for the mini-sode. Go listen to like a happy song or something. Stay safe. Bye.