By Associated Press

April 22, 2004

ALBANY, GA (AP) -- With some of his other victims looking on in the courtroom, a former sailor was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting his girlfriend's 10-year-old daughter.

The girl reported the 1998 attack in a letter typed on a school computer while she lived in Albany. School officials notified her mother, but she did not inform authorities. Two years later, after the family had moved to Jacksonville, Fla., the mother found a suicide note written by her daughter, got her into therapy and the therapist reported the crime, prosecutors said.

Dougherty County Superior Court Judge Loring Gray sentenced Charles Freeman, 33, of Atlanta, on Tuesday for aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual battery and two counts of child molestation.

Prosecutors said Freeman, who was formerly stationed at the Albany Marine Corps Logistics Base, had molested at least four other girls and had been transferred by the Navy to Virginia before his arrest on the Georgia charges. He had been sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to complete a sexual-offender program in Virginia before his trial in Albany.

The two Virginia victims, plus a second teenager from Florida and another from Atlanta testified that Freeman had touched them inappropriately.

Source: The Albany Herald

this is crazy. hmm.

Hmm. Why would she (the Mom) not say anything. That is wrong and she should be punished for not reporting it, she was NEGLECTING her child. Makes me wonder if she knew about it when it was happening???

I am with a lil love why didnt she report it. She probably made her child feel as though it was her fault. That is crazy

if that was my mom she wouldnt be my mom any longer !!.. this story is sad.

Aww, how terrible!

I agree that the Mom should be charged also......I can handle most anything,EXCEPT a crime against a child

Alot of mothers dont believe there children, often they are so "in love" with these men that they are oblivious to the world around them. I see this all the time. Now teachers, drs, nurses and police (along with a few other careers) there is a mandated law that you must report any type of abuse----parents and family members should be added. In Atlanta a few months ago a nurse was fired (not sure if she was charged) for not reporting child abuse--the nurse worked in a school. School nurses do not come in contact with every child in the school.----The system is so wrong. A man in the town where Jeff is from just received 106 years for child molestation and can come up for parole in 35 yrs per Jeffs mom as soon as its printed in the paper I will add it. This is the man that Jeff got into a fight with because he was bragging to the inmates and giving details about what he did to the kids! Oh yeah he is 66 years old!!

Along the same subject..... 2 childrens doctors from the leading hospital in Rochester NY have been charges with child porn!!!!!..So far their privledges have been taken away at the hospital. The media ia saying that as of now none of their patients have been involved.It is so sad, that these men have to be like this. Is it a sickness..really??Makes you feel like kids are not safe anywhere....

How sad. I would report it right away and I would never doubt my daughter, I don't care who she said was doing it. And I agree, the mom should be charged with something... I don't see why she wouldn't report that. It's a shame when parent's put their men infront of their children.

I agree that the mom should be charged too.

They definitely need to go after mom on Endangering Children charges... followed up with a huge notification of children's services.

Thank God for that therapist...

Some people are sick...I would never disbelieve my daughter or son...The mother should be charged with neglect,,,The school, i think, should also be held accountable. I wlork in a school so I am also a mandated reporter.

I agree with you guys. If my mother, or ANYONE did not report such a thing, or alowed such a thing, I would probably be in Prison myself for murder. I can handle anything other then a person that molest kids, or hurts children in any way. I hope this man rotts.

thats gross

It's a shame when innocent children are shown how ugly the world can be at such a young age. That mother should have said something right away. I really hope they do something to punish her too.

Personaly I feel they should fry him.Child molestation is a sexual preference just like homosexual or heteral sexual.There is no cure for this they are attracted to children.Only 3 yrs I cant believe the system wow.And to think my guy will have done 13 1/2 yrs when he comes home for a non violent class c&d felony.Its sickening for sure.And that Mother needs to be right there doing her time too.I dont care how much you love a man if someone hurts your child human instinct should kick in.She's just as sick as him.I would probly kill the sorry SOB.Prison is too good for him.

God that is just so sad!! I wonder what her reasoning against not alerting the authorities was!! Shame? Guilt? Fear? Ignorance? So sad..

Reminds me of a case here in Edmonton, Alberta where a WOMAN was charged with producing and selling child porn.. most of it that of her 7 year old son!! Her own freaking kid!!

IF i knew with 100% certainty that it had happened and that it could be proven I might report it and put my child through the whole trial thing. I'm much more upset that the mother waited 2 years to put her child into therapy after finding this out. Whether the story was true (and in this case it seems it was) or not, if my child had this happen I'd want her in therapy and if she made it up I'd want her in therapy. But I think the mom's attitude may well be why the child typed it out at school to begin with -- she probably hoped something would be done about it if I was exposed to the school authorities in this roundabout way.

So horrible.

Do any of you listen to Dr. Laura on the radio? (I admit I'm addicted even tho she drives me crazy at times!) Anyway, there are many calls from people who were molested as children and as a result are having problems as adults. In many cases they told their Mom's directly, no letter typed at school, and the Mom's still didn't believe them. And why did these mothers do that? To protect their own relationships with their boyfriends, husbands or whatever. It just sickens me that kind of selfishness!!! I agree, I hope that so-called mother gets sentenced as well. Can you imagine how betrayed that poor child must feel? And their self-esteem?? It breaks my heart. :cry:

I am a mom who did nothing years ago when by daughter told me and I wish I had.. You see, there is no excuse in doing nothing about it. I was an active drug user and I did not want to stop. That is no excuse, that is just a fact of my life at the time. (Mind you, I will be seven years clean on December 29th, 2005). I cry as I write this because I regret with all my heart that I did nothing. My daughter was around 14 or 15 and it was my uncle... the same man who touched me when I was around 14. Guys, my heart breaks because he has now been charged with allegedly touching my, then, 8 year old granddaughter about 2 yrs ago. But, this time I was not a child, this time I was not on drugs, this time he will pay. We don't know what this woman's reason was for not telling, but, she will have to live with that decision for the rest of her life. I have been very blessed in that my daughter understands and forgives me, maybe now we too can have justice.

My question for everyone in this thread is, have any of you been in this situation where you had to deal with your child telling you that your husband, boyfriend or whoever had molested them? It's not as easy as you may think to just say that he'd be dead. I was molested as a child, not once, but by three different men before my parents found out. It was the only thing I knew as a young child. When I was ten I went through a court battle that I feel ruined me more than anything else because I was forced to relive the situation over and over. Since that time I have been able to forgive and forget, as God would want me to do to follow in his ways.

I am now a mother of two children and my biggest fear was for this same thing to happen to my child. Well, it did, even with as cautious as I was. I was with my husband for 7 years when my daughter told me that he touched her in an uncomfortable way. I believed my daughter without a doubt, but I did not turn him in right away. I could not begin to explain to you the feelings that were going through my mind. Anger. Pain. Confusion and more. I confronted him. He confessed to me. I did what anyone would do and called my mother. My mother turned him in. We went to the Sheriff together. We had planned on going to the Sheriff after church that morning anyhow. He freely confessed and told my daughter how sorry he was. My daughter knows that what happened to her is not her fault and that in no way was it ever anything that she did to make this happen to her. My husband took his sentence and did not fight the system in any way. My daughter did not have to be humiliated any more than she already had been. My daughter went into therapy shortly, but the therapists left the decision to her to continue. She did not feel the need or want to talk. I always let her know that I am always here to talk if she wants and if she does not want to talk with me, then I can always find her someone to talk to.

The purpose for me telling this is to ask you all to please don't judge. Do not judge my man as I would not judge your loved one. Unless you can completely understand the situation, and even if you think you do understand it, you really won't. I know this first hand.

It is an illness that these guys need help with. They feel that there is no way for them to get help because no one will ever understand or want to accept what they have to say. Can you imagine if your husband, brother or father came to you and said that he had thoughts about wanting to be with a child but had not yet acted on it? You'd probably freak. And that is exactly why they do not come forward with their feelings. I still love my husband and I visit him regularly. My husband now understands that he has a problem, but the way the system is right now, they are not offering any kind of rehabilitation or assistance to help him.