All victims have the right to be heard. They do not have the right to be unquestioningly believed. The reasons should be obvious: An accusation is not necessarily truth. And an alleged victim is not necessarily a victim.
This principle is playing out in an excruciating way just 30 miles north of Pittsburgh and the damage that has been done — and the damage yet to unfold — is incalculable.
A teenage boy in the Seneca Valley School District was falsely accused of sexually assaulting two female classmates. He was tormented at school for his victimizing ways. He was criminally charged. He was taken from his classroom in shackles. He was placed in a juvenile jail.
As it turned out, this boy was not the victimizer. He was the victim.
This was disclosed by three in a group of five teenage girls who ultimately admitted their deceitful conspiracy. Now, his parents (and his father is a teacher in the school district) have filed a federal lawsuit against the girls and their families as well as the school and the Butler County District Attorney’s Office, the latter for allegedly giving more credence to the girls’ allegations than to the boy’s denials.
The lawsuit by Michael and Alecia Flood Jr. of Zelienople claims their son, identified as T.F., was discriminated against on the basis of his gender and was treated more harshly because he is a boy. He now is 17 and is home-schooled. His nightmare started in the summer of 2017. That’s when Meghan Villegas, a college student who had attended Seneca Valley, told people of her plan to get T.F. fired from his summer job as a pool lifeguard. She began conspiring with a high school girl, identified as K.S., who falsely accused T.F. of sexually assaulting her at the pool. He was fired from his job. Later, after the school year was under way, another girl in the conspiracy circle — C.S. — told a guidance counselor that T.F. had entered her home and had sexually assaulted her there. As the investigation ensued and as T.F. attended school, he was bullied. One example: taped to his back — unknown to him — was the word PREDATOR. In the end, he was arrested by police and charged with criminal trespass, indecent assault, simple assault and harassment. He was removed from school one day in leg and wrist shackles and was confined to a juvenile detention facility for nine days.
By the end of last school year, the conspiracy had unraveled as the girls admitted their lies. Why? As one girl was quoted, according to the lawsuit: “I just don’t like him ... I just don’t like to hear him talk ... I don’t like to look at him.”
Charges were withdrawn. The criminal record will be expunged. But, the damage cannot be undone.
And more is yet to come as a federal lawsuit plays out. It will be up to that court to determine whether due diligence was done by the school and investigators or whether there was a gender bias against the teenage boy.
These questions come in the midst of the #MeToo movement, which has helped victims find their voices: a good thing. And this resounding chorus of voices has created a national dialogue about the gamut of sexual violence, which runs from the emotional to the physical; from school hallways to corporate offices. This, too, is good.
But, in a country of due process and the presumption of innocence, the Seneca Valley outrage should serve as a cautionary tale: An accuser should be regarded with respect, the accusation with skepticism.
