Parents forced to protect their children?

Parents forced to protect their children?

Fathers who chased down people they suspected of targeting their children may reflect a trend in guarding against predators.

By DEEPA BHARATH

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Tom Flood still can't believe that a Friday night outing to Wal-Mart to pick out Cinderella towels for his daughter's bathroom would end with him chasing down a man, who would later be arrested on suspicion of inappropriate conduct with Flood's 3-year-old daughter.

Days after that May 19 incident in Westminster, Garden Grove resident Mark Dornan pounced on a man at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival who he believed was taking questionable pictures of his 5-year-old daughter and another girl.

Dornan said he grabbed a camera and a gun from the man, who was later identified as Ralph Cameron Lakin II with the Los Angeles Police Department's Parker Center administrative headquarters.

More parents are getting proactive about protecting their children from predators – be it looking up the Megan's Law sex offender database or being more vigilant in public places where children may be photographed or approached by a stranger, child safety experts say. In the two Orange County incidents, the parents were willing to go beyond being watchful and actually take action when they believed their children's safety and dignity were at peril.

Parents have been forced to adopt a vigilante stance because, most of the time, the law is not on their side, says Grier Weeks, executive director of the National Association to Protect Children, an organization that lobbies for child safety legislation.

"There's nothing that stops people from taking pictures of children in public places," he said. "There is no adequate regulation or monitoring of convicted sex offenders in our communities. So when parents see something bad about to happen to their child, they are forced to act."

Advocates such as Weeks say they know, however, that parent vigilantism can have its downside. Parents could be criminally charged with assault if their suspicions turn out to be baseless. They could even face a civil slander lawsuit.

Both Dornan and Flood say they probably shouldn't have acted the way they did. Then again, both say they would do it again if it were to happen again.

"It's not anger, but your sense of responsibility to protect your child as a parent," Flood said. "If parents don't do it, who is going to do it?"

In both cases the fathers' concerns were taken seriously. Flood followed the man who he says caressed his daughter's hair at the Wal-Mart and tailed him in his car while talking to a 911 dispatcher. Police eventually stopped and arrested John Anderson of Long Beach, who was charged with one count of a lewd act with a minor. Anderson is being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

"It was a horrible experience for both my daughter and for me," Flood said. "This is a toddler, who is still on the bottle. For her to have to go through something like this is unacceptable."

Flood says his action stemmed from his sense of guilt that he wasn't able to protect his daughter from the man even as he was standing 5 feet away.

Dornan says he saw Lakin take pictures of his daughter sitting on the wagon and up the skirt of another girl nearby.

"That man was going to get away with my daughter's image in his camera," Dornan said, his voice choking. "I just couldn't bear the thought of that."

Lakin is being investigated both by the Garden Grove Police Department and the LAPD.

The fact that both Dornan and Flood assumed the role of vigilantes is hardly surprising, Weeks says.

But when parents dare to take on such a role, they invite the physical dangers that accompany such vigilantism. In Dornan's case, Lakin had a gun, which Dornan did not know about until he tackled Lakin.

Then there are legal consequences when parents make assumptions or jump to conclusions. Attorney Kenneth Schreiber says that could easily happen with parents, whose judgment is usually clouded by their powerful instinct to love and protect their child. Besides, it's human nature to make assumptions about conduct, the Irvine-based defense lawyer says.

"These assumptions lie in the eye of a beholder," said Schreiber, who has defended several teachers accused of molesting students. "For example, if someone sees a man with his hand up a little girl's dress, it's easy to jump to a conclusion. But what if the girl had been hurt or wet herself and the man is just trying to help her?"

Society has changed in such a way that it is dangerous for any adult to touch a child without first getting approval from the child's parents, said Philip Putnam, an attorney who is representing Flood.

"Parents are taking proactive action against such offenders, and that's a good thing in many ways," he said. "There is more knowledge and awareness about these issues now, which did not exist until a few years ago."

Although parents might be tempted to attack an offender, they should resist that temptation unless the child is in immediate physical danger, said Erin Runnion, founder of the Joyful Child Foundation started in memory of Runnion's 5-year-old daughter, Samantha, who was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered five years ago.

"What I advocate is vigilance, not vigilantism," she said. "We need to deal with it socially. If you stare or hiss at these guys, they'll usually go away. They do what they do because they are cowards."

Still, Runnion says the recent incidents show a certain brazenness.

"If they are bold enough to do this in a public place like the fair or a store, that is scary," she said.

Parents are usually aware these days when it comes to people who normally interact with their children, but can let down their guard when they are in crowded or public places, child safety experts say.

Most parents don't know that they have to worry about voyeurs who legally take photographs of their children in a public place and then manipulate them over the Internet, said Joan Irvine, executive director of Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection.

It has become common for pedophiles to take images of fully-clothed children and cut and paste their heads to bodies of young sex abuse victims, she says.

"This process is called morphing, and we've seen it happening for many years now," Irvine said.

Dornan, who is now worried about who has his daughter's photo and how it will be used, said the incident at the Strawberry Festival has taught him an important lesson.

"Parents need to empower themselves with a knowledge of the law and power of observation," he said. "So the next time you pack up for a day trip, the list should include juice boxes, snacks, sun block and your head in a swivel."