The Universe is Shaped Exactly Like the Earth
I think I've made a new friend at work. She's New Girl, the one I've been mentoring. I'm cautiously optimistic, but I think I really like her. She's competent and capable and funny and smart and sarcastic. She's also dealing with some shit right now.Here's the story, from her point of view, which I have no reason to doubt:
Her son, D, is 19yrs old. Works at a local arcade part-time and when he's not working, is at home playing his video games. He's mild mannered, quiet, reclusive. Never had a girlfriend. Doesn't smoke, do drugs, drink, etc.
A group of girls came up to D while at work one day, saying their friend J liked him. J & D ended up hooking up.
Problem was, they hooked up in his car. In front of her house. And the cops caught them.
Now, you're probably thinking, so what? Indecent exposure at best, right? Well, the girl is only 14. A minor.
Yep.
D, being an honest kid, screwed himself over by admitting to the cops that he knew she was 14. J's parents pressed charges. D was charged with secondary sexual abuse (I think).
J submitted a statement saying that everything was consensual...but then she retracted the statement.
D's options are to a) Plead guilty to the abuse charge and end up marked as a sexual offender, b) Plead guilty, hope the charge is reduced, and possibly still end up marked as a sexual offender (depending on what the charge is dropped to), or c) Go to trial.
Oh, but wait! It gets better! New Girl has a 2yr old daughter. If her son is charged as a sexual offender, he can't live with her if her daughter does. Her daughter can't live with her if he does. (This last part is largely speculation; I don't know if her lawyer has confirmed this yet.)
New Girl is in the midst of a divorce. She's worried that her soon-to-be-ex might make some noise and try to take daughter away from her. Not to mention, as a single mom with two kids - daughter is in therapy every day, I'm not sure for what, but there's physical therapy, and speech therapy, and another kind - she's kind of broke. Now she has a lawyer's bills on top of everything else.
Granted, her son made some huge mistakes. But this is getting really big - to be branded as a sexual offender means his life won't ever be the same. The next court date isn't for 5 weeks; there's really nothing she can do in that time, but she's trying.
"Everything that keeps me together is falling apart."
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