Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 1401

Tonight's special guest is Gale Cerel from Las Vegas, Nevada. Born in the Bronx in 1954, she moved to New Jersey when she was 5. A few years later she was assaulted by the neighborhood florist when she began to hang around his shop. At that time all little girls wore dresses. As she playing with the discarded flowers, he began molesting her under her dress, even on occasion in the front window. Nobody noticed. Gale's experience isn't all that unusual. A significant number of predators hide in plain sight, and many go to great lengths to mask their intentions around children. They'll create a community persona that makes them seem beyond reproach, or seek a career or volunteer opportunity that puts them in close contact with many kids. Gale explains, "It went on for a year before I told my parents. Fortunately for me, they believed me. Unfortunately, the courts didn't have enough proof. So he walked." She goes on, "Sex feels good even when you know it's wrong, and I actually was sad in some ways. I started therapy when I was 12, and continued on and off through my lifetime. Though I cope well now, I have had many ways I was triggered, especially when my daughter turned 10." Gale's has had a checkered career-life to say the least. She's now a divorced collage artist, who lost her home, and reports she's living with cousins. But she's doing this show in the hopes it'll help her find a new purpose. "Now I want to be a part of the solution," Gale says. "Abuse of children must be brought into the light so we can teach and hopefully help prevent this awful life altering crime."