Bikers Against Child Abuse Fight Back
Revved Up For Change
Bikers Against Child Abuse Fight Back
By John Littell
It was an unusually mild March day when Mopar and his brothers and sisters kicked their bikes to life and headed to a small town in western Missouri. Although it was probably one of the best riding days of the year, the group thundering down a rural road wasn’t out to enjoy the weather. They were on a mission that was both hopeful and heartbreaking.
Level 1 Intervention
The riders were all members of Bikers Against Child Abuse, an international organization devoted to the aid and comfort of sexually and physically injured children. Their job that morning was to do a Level 1 Intervention, which meant they were there to introduce themselves to a 9-year-old girl who had been sexually abused by her father for years. The child literally shook with fear, thinking her father might somehow escape from prison to resume his attacks on her. She was so frightened that her guardians and local law enforcement officials had asked BACA to step in.
Mopar, one of the newest BACA members at the time, was assigned security detail, guarding the assorted bikes outside, while the rest of the group went into the house. They had a well-practiced ritual to perform.
First, they presented the child with a vest emblazoned with the BACA back patch. She could pick her own ride name (like Mopar), and was told point blank that if anyone ever tried to mess with her again, the bastard would have to go through each of them first. She was now a full-fledged member of the chapter.
Then they gave her the names, phone numbers and email addresses of a man and woman in the group, and instructed her to call any time, day or night, if she felt scared … or simply wanted to talk.
“Once they trust us, many of the kids call just to tease us or to test us to see if we’ll really answer the phone at 2 a.m.,” Mopar says.
Next came the presentation of a big, fleecy BACA blanket and a small, plush teddy bear. Each member of the chapter hugged the stuffed animal, and passed it down the line until it was handed to the little girl to cuddle. The members promised that if the bear ever ran out of hugs, they’d be back to fill it up.
Wounds
Outside, Mopar noticed that two little boys who had wandered out of the house were walking toward him. “They were about 7 or 8, not over10. Like many kids, they were fascinated by the bikes,” he says.
“Mister,” one of the boys asked. “Can we sit on one?”
“Why don’t you wait until one of the other guys come out of the house?” Mopar said. “I’m sure they’ll let you.”
“Wanna see something?” the older boy asked. Without waiting for Mopar to answer, he held up his right forearm. There was a long scar etched into the flesh. “That’s where my daddy burned me with an iron because I was bad.”
Not to be outdone, the other kid pulled up his T-shirt and said, “That’s where my daddy puts his cigarettes out on me when I’m bad.” There were half a dozen nickel-size burn marks on the boy’s stomach.
Mopar fell silent for a few seconds. “At the risk of ruining my big, bad biker image, I was almost in tears,” he recalls. “I got down on my knees and told them they weren’t bad, their daddy was bad — that’s why he was in jail. They looked at each other, seeming to understand for the first time.”
The viciousness of the attacks on three small children stunned Mopar. BACA hadn’t even known about these boys.
That brief moment confirmed to Mopar that he had done the right thing joining BACA. “This was something I had to do. If I can help other children from going through something similar, then that’s what I’m going to do,” he says with complete conviction.
Extreme Bullying
Four years after his jarring introduction to BACA, Mopar is now its public relations officer for Missouri.
“I think I was drafted because no one else wanted the job. Or because I’m more full of crap than anyone else in the state,” he says with a laugh.
“Everyone in the organization has a similar story. We have members who are survivors of child abuse, and others, like me, who have just seen it,” he says. “There’s a lot about school bullying in the national media these days, but to me, child abuse is the worst form of bullying. Taking advantage of someone smaller and weaker …” He trails off. The controlled fury in his voice is palpable.
Mopar is the ride name of 56-year-old Richard Gold, a motorcycle enthusiast since he was in his late teens. He currently owns a 1999 Harley-Davidson Stage 3 Street Stalker Fat Boy, and figures more than 50 percent of his chapter are H-D riders. But each group is different, and all bikes are welcome.
In his other life, Mopar says proudly that he has worked for the same company for 36 years, setting up machine tools to manufacture aluminum products.
Origins
The origins of BACA are recent, Mopar says. The incident that kicked it off took place in Utah, circa 1995. A child psychologist and clinical play therapist, whose ride name is Chief because he is a Native American, came across the case of an abused boy who was so traumatized he refused to leave his house. Chief made a house call to see what was going on with the child. He soon discovered that the only thing that piqued the boy’s interest was when Chief mentioned his bike. Then his eyes lit up.
Knowing he was on the right track to help this child, Chief gathered together his friends from the local Harley Owners Group and the next Saturday, 27 HOGs descended on the boy’s home. Looking out the window, the child was in awe and, for the first time in weeks, he ventured outside to see the bikes.
It wasn’t long before the boy was outside playing and riding his skateboard all over the neighborhood. It was an amazing and rapid transformation and a new tool in the recovery kit. BACA was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization the next year.
“Most of what we see are sexual abuse cases,” Mopar says. “National statistics show that before the age of 18, one in three girls will be sexually abused, and one in five boys will suffer the same fate. Physical abuse is reported less often because people can’t decide if a mother spanking a toddler in the supermarket is an abuser or not. So they stick their heads in the sand. It’s tough enough being a kid these days without some adult beating the snot out of you or using you for sexual release.”
Level 2 Intervention
After the initial Level 1 Intervention, things can spiral downhill. Suppose the accused abuser is still out on bail? That’s not unusual with today’s crowded court schedules. And then suppose he starts making threats against the child or the family? What do you do?
“The first thing is to call 911. Get the police involved,” Mopar says. “Then they start gathering evidence against the guy and call us.”
The cops are great, he says, but they don’t have the time or the resources to protect everyone all the time. That’s where BACA comes in — arriving in overwhelming force.
The one in charge of the case gathers together as many chapter members as are needed, reaching out all over Missouri and beyond if necessary. They descend on the property like avenging angels and surround the house. They are all prepared to set up camp where they stand and “will not leave until the child dismisses us,” Mopar says. “I’ve been on Level 2 Interventions in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Some have lasted a week or more.”
Like a Level 1, the immediate purpose of the visit is to provide aid and comfort to the child.
“Our mission is to empower these children, allow them not to be afraid of the world, to stand up to the abuser and say you can’t do that me. I’ve got friends, I got backup; if you try to do that to me, you’re going to have go through us,” Mopar says.
“It’s our ultimate goal to get the friggin’ creeps off the street,” he says. “Research has shown that child abusers have an almost 100 percent rate of recidivism, and some have molested hundreds of children in a lifetime of sexual deviance.
“They’re all child serial rapists, and all too often when we visit a child, the abuser is still free,” Mopar says.
Level 3 And Level 4 Interventions
If the physical presence of BACA members at a child’s house does not deter the abuser, they will send a formal letter detailing that they are willing to take whatever steps necessary to block further abuse. That’s Level 3.
Want to go on? Why not, just disregard the letter and await a Level 4 Intervention. In this case, the BACA members nail down the abuser’s general address and go door-to-door handing out flyers, giving stickers to the kids, and holding a “Neighborhood Awareness Ride.”
The International BACA leadership website spells it out clearly: “BACA does not condone, support, participate in the use of aggression, violence, or physical force in any manner …” unless members are attacked first, of course.
Then, an emergency trip to parts unknown would be in the wisest interest of most normal people.
20-To-Life
The lag time between accusation and trial is a major concern for Mopar. One exceptional case he was involved in lasted seven years. The victim was a beautiful 15-year-old girl, who had been seduced by her smooth-talking stepfather. He convinced her that he didn’t love her mother, he loved her, and he wanted them to run away together for a life of bliss.
He was 20 years older, experienced and suave, and it didn’t take long to get her on the road with him. The wonderful new life he had promised her soon deteriorated into a nightmare of sexual abuse.
“He tricked her out to other men in motel rooms as he watched and videotaped them. Then he uploaded the tapes to an Internet child porn site,” Mopar says. The pair traveled all over southwest Missouri and Oklahoma. That was the problem with trying to prosecute this slippery SOB. Eight counties in two states were involved. Finally, the perp was convicted in every jurisdiction for a variety of offenses, netting him 27 years in prison.
That may not seem like enough to most people, but Mopar is more philosophical. Sometimes, he says, 30 days in stir is a life sentence for a child abuser.
Mopar had come into the case during the last two trials to lend support to the victim, and when all the prosecutions were over, the victim was a 22-year-old woman.
“As is our custom, we took her out for a Closed Case party,” he says. “She was old enough and wanted to go to a bar. So we did. We all got together for some good bar food and a few beers.”
End The Suffering
The amount of psychological and physical damage perpetrated on the victims of child abuse is both horrific and incomprehensible. It’s something so nauseating and disturbing that most people would rather watch so-called reality shows on TV than to help alleviate the pain and suffering of real children so dreadfully injured.
“Child abuse is a worldwide pandemic. It’s America’s dirty little secret, and it’s time to shine the light on these abusers, and scatter them like cockroaches,” Mopar says. “It’s time for us to take a stand, for us to intervene, and report these crimes.”
An Inconvenient Problem
According to the Missouri Department of Social Services, Children’s Division, in 2010 some 56,897 cases of abuse and neglect involving 83,505 children were reported statewide. About 10 to 15 percent of those reports were confirmed. Cases were up10.5 percent over the previous year.
Many experts believe that incidents of child abuse are actually much higher because people are reluctant to report such heinous crimes. It is only rarely that the media report sexual abuse cases, and then only if it involves kidnapping or murder.
Only rarely does the public hear about the day-to-day fear these children have to endure.
Help Is On The Way
National BACA Helpline: 1-866-71ABUSE (712-2873)
Missouri BACA Helpline: 1-877-773-8790
Missouri Department of Social Services, Children’s Division, Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline: 1-800-392-3738
Learn more about Bikers Against Child Abuse at bacaworld.org.