A Young Lady Tells How She was Drugged, Kidnapped and Raped

To: DZBO

After reading what you put on AC titled: "Sex Offender Might Be Living Next Door to You. How Do You Know If You Are Safe?" I felt I should email you and tell you that no matter what, no one is really safe. You can post this on AC if you want to. Maybe if would help someone, I don't know.

This was a few years ago, when I was 18 and just out of High School. I often went to the beach, most times by myself, to catch some rays. Not too many people would go to that part of the beach, so the people who did go there were mostly the same people.

There were a few times that year I noticed a pair of guys who would walk up and down the beach and stop so often to talk to some of the girls. I didn't think much about it. One day the younger of the 2 came up to me and asked for a light. I told him I didn't smoke and left it at that. He went off to talk to his friend and I went back to sun bathing.

Later I went to leave, and as I walked towards my car, I noticed the 2 guys were standing by a van next to my car. The side door of the van was open and as I was trying to find my keys. The guy again asked me for a light. Before I could say anything, they grabbed me and forced me into the back of the van. One of them held me down and I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I am not going to go into details but later I knew I must have been drugged. We went somewhere and both of them raped me.

It must have been hours later they took me back to my car and left me in the driver seat. I don't know how long it took before I was able to get on my cell phone and call the police. While I was waiting, I called a girlfriend who got to me before the police did. She knew what part of the beach I liked to go to and was not that far away.

I was taken to the hospital and stayed there overnight. When my Mom and Dad came, my girlfriend told them about what happened. She thought she knew which men I was talking about because she also been to that beach many times over the years.

When I got home and was looking over the receipt for the invoice items of my stuff, I notice that a $100 bill was listed. The money was not mine and I did not know were it came from. I tried to report it but no one seemed interested.

It took some time but some of my friends would go back to that beach and take photos of different men and show them to me. Then we had gotten a photo of the 2 men, I took it to the police.

It took some time but the police found them. They claimed that I was a hooker that they used from time to time and that the $100 was my fee. The police seemed to believe them and let them go. I could not prove what I said was true, or had found other women, who they had done this to before.

I tried my best to make someone believe me but I couldn't. My boyfriend left me, my folks tried to stand by me but soon it got to the point that I felt that I had to leave town. I was scared that those 2 men would try it again.

My friends back home tell me to this day they still see those men at the beach. Some women who get raped do not report it. I don't know how they could get away with it but they did. I feel that I cannot go back home and this bad event will be with me forever.

~Janet