Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 940

Tonight's special guest is Tim Fisher, a returning NAASCA family member who lives in the Las Vegas area and runs Juvenile Justice Now. Tim, a child abuse survivor, will be with us tonight to describe his experience, strength and hope. Tim was seven years old when he met his predator, a neighbor, teaching Sunday school at the Baptist church. The man began grooming and manipulating Tim and his parents, offering Tim and his sister rides to and from church in his little red Volkswagen. Thus began a situation that was to last seven years. His mother told him that their neighbor needed some help in his yard and around the house and that Tim would be going to go with him on Saturday mornings to help out for a few hours. "My parents must have thought they'd hit the lottery. Here was this fine, upstanding man of God who had taken a genuine interest in their young son’s moral growth and development, says Tim. He goes on, "I’m here today because by the time I had reached my 14th birthday I had been sexually molested approximately 350 times over the course of seven years." He continues, "It took four years for me to become strong enough to come forward. Shortly after my 18th birthday I lit a fuse that would blow multiple families apart." Eventually he went to the Anaheim police and reported his abuse and name his predator. From start to finish it took a year almost to the day for him to be convicted. Eventually he took a plea of guilty to 49 counts of child molestation, lewd conducts involving a minor and with the use of force. Sadly although he was sentenced to 2 to 12 years he was released after serving just nine months. "I’m here to remind you that the abuse never stops for the victim," Tim says, "I encourage anyone who has been sexually abused to make a report even if it happened when you were a child."