Man Gets Accused Molester To Confess On Youtube
A US man has tracked down a man he says molested him 40 years ago and posted a video of his apology on YouTube.
Ron Tebo, 47, claimed he and his sister were sexually assaulted by a 15-year-old neighbour, “Butch”, in 1970 when he was six and she was four.
On the video, “Butch” can be seen saying: “I’m truly sorry, that’s all I can say. Nothing more I can do.”
Tebo, a web designer, said he was scared when he found “Butch” after a three-year search and an internet campaign.
“How was I going to spring this on him? My intention was to get a confession, that’s what I wanted to do, that was my goal,” Tebo told AOL News.
Tebo had not been able to bring the case to police, as the statute of limitations for the crime had passed.
“Of course it’s frustrating,” District Attorney bureau chief Rosanne Johnson told AOL News when talking about being unable to charge people who have confessed.
Tom Spulecki of New York State’s police department said: “One of our last conversations was that he wanted some closure and wasn’t sure what he would do when he found him.”
Tebo embarked on his hunt for the alleged molester in 2007 after tracking down a confessed paedophile, Jack McClellan, who set up a website on how to prey on young girls without getting caught.
His campaign, which included an anti-McClellan website, grabbed the attention of the national media, and led to McClellan’s arrest.
It also led Tebo to reveal his personal experiences on US TV network CBS.
Tebo then went back to his old home, where he located “Butch’s” house and found his surname on the vacant home’s letterbox, AOL News reported.
He used property records to track down “Butch’s” father’s name, scoured the internet to find his obituary, and found “Butch’s” name as the next of kin.
He started knocking on people’s doors to find “Butch”.
But the turning point came when Tebo had a client who lived near “Butch”. When he asked her if she knew him, she said “Butch” worked for her and she pointed out his home for Tebo.
Two days later, Tebo returned and secretly recorded a video of his meeting with “Butch” and then posted it on the internet.
But Tebo’s sister, who did not want to be named, said the meeting brought back difficult memories for her.
“I remember [being] in a car and I also remember a barn,” she told AOL News.
“I’ve never forgotten, but I don’t think about it [constantly].
“But there are times when I wondered, not necessarily ‘Where is he?’ or ‘What is he doing?’ but ‘How many other people has he done this to?”‘
“I have thought about that - does he have his own children. Is he doing it to them?”