Female Victim Speaks Out About Abuse
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jennifer [email protected]
It was just last summer 20-year-old Amber, Warsaw, was looking online for a member of the opposite sex to spend time getting to know.
She first met James on MySpace.com, a Web site that profiles an individual's interests and provides information they choose to share about themselves on the site.[[In-content Ad]]"When I first met him online, he said all the right things and he seemed like the perfect guy so I thought I would give him a chance," Amber said.
Amber and James spent a month conversing online before they decided to meet for a movie and dinner. They spent every day together for the next two months when Amber began to notice a change in James.
"He had an anger problem and would leave threatening messages on my phone saying he would kill me if I did not give him money," Amber said.
She said, at first, she gave into him by giving him money because she was scared, but when he started threatening to hurt her family, she began to ignore him.
Weeks passed before she saw him again when her female friend asked for her help to move into a new home. When she showed up to her friend's new home, James was there and she did not know he would be there.
Amber sat in the car and did not get out, but he came to the car and said he wanted to take her somewhere and they needed to talk.
She was scared and didn't want to make him mad, so she let him drive her car, not knowing where he was going to take her.
"He drove me to a hotel, we checked in, and he grabbed me and tugged me into the room," Amber said.
She said he took her cell phone and listened to a message from her male friend that had asked her to call him and when James heard the message, he broke the phone.
Amber said she made an attempt to escape from the hotel room, but he told her to shut up and sit down if she wanted to live.
"I was crying the whole time he was yelling at me, and I screamed hoping someone from the next room would hear me, but no one else heard me," Amber said.
He put a lit cigarette to her face and told her she was lucky because he had calmed down.
She laid on one of the two beds in the room crying while James watched television. As she laid on the the other bed, she said he decided he wanted to have sex, but she said she didn't want to.
"He told me if I didn't have sex with him he would kill me, and the maids would find me dead under the bed in the morning," Amber said.
She gave into his demands, but not willingly.
"I thought I loved him because he was so far into my head and was controlling me that I could not think for myself and did what he wanted me to," Amber said.
She wanted to escape after he had raped her, but couldn't because he stayed up all night watching television.
He told her for the first time that night he was on parole and had just gotten out of prison. He told her he was in prison for assault and battery with a deadly weapon for threatening a former girlfriend.
The next day, James' friend picked him up from the hotel, and Amber went to a pay phone because he had broken her phone and asked her mom to pick her up from the hotel.
"I didn't tell my mom I had been raped because I was embarrassed and ashamed," Amber said.
She told her mother he had threatened her life and they called local authorities and were referred to report the incident in the city where the incident happened.
Amber found out the night after the incident he was seeing someone else while he was dating her, and he was wanting money to pay for things for his other girlfriend.
The authorities did not find James until four months later as he was driving on the road to Amber's grandfather's home.
Amber filed criminal confinement and rape charges against him and moved to another state to get away from him and had a protective order against him.
There was a trial in January where he was transferred back to prison because of breaking parole. A month later, a trial was held where he asked the judge for a continuance.
A trial was held in March where he took the plea bargain and plead guilty to criminal confinement and was charged with criminal confinement for not letting her leave the room the night of the incident.
Amber talked to a victim advocate after the trial and discovered he had 15 to 20 charges of criminal confinement against other women.
Rape charges were dropped because Amber did not have a rape kit done after the incident to prove she had been raped.
She said James is scheduled to be released from prison in a few weeks.
Amber said at first she blamed herself for what had happened, but through working with the Warsaw City Police Victim Service Center, has come to realize it was not her fault.
A crime drama play titled "The Storybook People," for public education and awareness of National Crime Victims' Rights Week, will be performed at 7 p.m. each night Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Old Train Depot, 115 E. Market St., Pierceton. The play is directed by Bob Firari.
Admission is $7 and $4 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at The Blue Lion Coffeehouse, Pierceton; The Green Banana, Warsaw; The Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce and the Warsaw mayor's office. Tickets also can be purchased the night of the play at the door.
Proceeds go to Warsaw City Police Victim Service Center.
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It was just last summer 20-year-old Amber, Warsaw, was looking online for a member of the opposite sex to spend time getting to know.
She first met James on MySpace.com, a Web site that profiles an individual's interests and provides information they choose to share about themselves on the site.[[In-content Ad]]"When I first met him online, he said all the right things and he seemed like the perfect guy so I thought I would give him a chance," Amber said.
Amber and James spent a month conversing online before they decided to meet for a movie and dinner. They spent every day together for the next two months when Amber began to notice a change in James.
"He had an anger problem and would leave threatening messages on my phone saying he would kill me if I did not give him money," Amber said.
She said, at first, she gave into him by giving him money because she was scared, but when he started threatening to hurt her family, she began to ignore him.
Weeks passed before she saw him again when her female friend asked for her help to move into a new home. When she showed up to her friend's new home, James was there and she did not know he would be there.
Amber sat in the car and did not get out, but he came to the car and said he wanted to take her somewhere and they needed to talk.
She was scared and didn't want to make him mad, so she let him drive her car, not knowing where he was going to take her.
"He drove me to a hotel, we checked in, and he grabbed me and tugged me into the room," Amber said.
She said he took her cell phone and listened to a message from her male friend that had asked her to call him and when James heard the message, he broke the phone.
Amber said she made an attempt to escape from the hotel room, but he told her to shut up and sit down if she wanted to live.
"I was crying the whole time he was yelling at me, and I screamed hoping someone from the next room would hear me, but no one else heard me," Amber said.
He put a lit cigarette to her face and told her she was lucky because he had calmed down.
She laid on one of the two beds in the room crying while James watched television. As she laid on the the other bed, she said he decided he wanted to have sex, but she said she didn't want to.
"He told me if I didn't have sex with him he would kill me, and the maids would find me dead under the bed in the morning," Amber said.
She gave into his demands, but not willingly.
"I thought I loved him because he was so far into my head and was controlling me that I could not think for myself and did what he wanted me to," Amber said.
She wanted to escape after he had raped her, but couldn't because he stayed up all night watching television.
He told her for the first time that night he was on parole and had just gotten out of prison. He told her he was in prison for assault and battery with a deadly weapon for threatening a former girlfriend.
The next day, James' friend picked him up from the hotel, and Amber went to a pay phone because he had broken her phone and asked her mom to pick her up from the hotel.
"I didn't tell my mom I had been raped because I was embarrassed and ashamed," Amber said.
She told her mother he had threatened her life and they called local authorities and were referred to report the incident in the city where the incident happened.
Amber found out the night after the incident he was seeing someone else while he was dating her, and he was wanting money to pay for things for his other girlfriend.
The authorities did not find James until four months later as he was driving on the road to Amber's grandfather's home.
Amber filed criminal confinement and rape charges against him and moved to another state to get away from him and had a protective order against him.
There was a trial in January where he was transferred back to prison because of breaking parole. A month later, a trial was held where he asked the judge for a continuance.
A trial was held in March where he took the plea bargain and plead guilty to criminal confinement and was charged with criminal confinement for not letting her leave the room the night of the incident.
Amber talked to a victim advocate after the trial and discovered he had 15 to 20 charges of criminal confinement against other women.
Rape charges were dropped because Amber did not have a rape kit done after the incident to prove she had been raped.
She said James is scheduled to be released from prison in a few weeks.
Amber said at first she blamed herself for what had happened, but through working with the Warsaw City Police Victim Service Center, has come to realize it was not her fault.
A crime drama play titled "The Storybook People," for public education and awareness of National Crime Victims' Rights Week, will be performed at 7 p.m. each night Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Old Train Depot, 115 E. Market St., Pierceton. The play is directed by Bob Firari.
Admission is $7 and $4 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at The Blue Lion Coffeehouse, Pierceton; The Green Banana, Warsaw; The Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce and the Warsaw mayor's office. Tickets also can be purchased the night of the play at the door.
Proceeds go to Warsaw City Police Victim Service Center.
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