Her billboards out sex attacker, urge kid-vic law
ALBANY — A woman who said she was raped as a student by a teacher at a prominent upstate private girls school is borrowing a page out of a recent Hollywood film by renting three billboards calling out her attacker — and pushing for passage of the Child Victims Act.
Kat Sullivan, who said she was raped in 1998 by a male teacher at the Emma Willard School School in upstate Troy, was inspired by the recent film “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” in which a mother rents billboards to highlight her daughter’s unsolved murder.
Sullivan rented one billboard on a highway close to the state Capitol, one in Fairfield, Conn., where her alleged rapist once lived and taught, and one in Springfield, Mass., where he now lives.
“I have no legal recourse against my rapist, and as a result he’s been free for the last 20 years to hurt other young girls,” she said. “Child sex abuse is an epidemic in New York, and it’s time our laws work to protect children, not the people who harm us.”
Sullivan’s alleged attacker, Scott Sargent, was fired by the school for sexually abusing a student, but never charged with a crime. The school wrote him letters of recommendations that allowed him to continue teaching in other states.
Sargent could not reached for comment.
One billboard says: “My rapist is protected by New York State law. I AM NOT. Neither are you. Neither are your children.”
A second says: “NY Pass the Child Victims Act.” Sullivan be is seen with the words, “Stop Sexual Assault” written on her hands.”
The third has the outline of a man with a question mark on him. The billboard promises “The Truth Will Be Revealed.”
A website listed on the billboard says that “at the advertising agency’s request, the name and image of my rapist has been redacted. In 28 days, the billboards will go down and I will be free to tell you directly via this website who is NAME REDACTED.”
Sullivan — who reached a settlement agreement with Emma Willard — has been a vocal advocate for passage of the Child Victims Act, which would give survivors of child sex abuse more time to bring criminal and civil cases.
Meanwhile, survivors and advocates on Friday protested in front of Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan’s Suffolk County house, urging that the CVA be included in the final state budget due next week.
“We’re here because Sen. Flanagan has refused to meet with us,” said Marci Hamilton, a lawyer and head of Child USA. “He’s the only reason this has never been voted on in the Senate.”
Flanagan spokesman Scott Reif had no comment.
Cuomo in January for the first time included a version of the CVA in his state budget proposal. The Assembly Democrats included a different version in their recommended spending plan.
The Senate Republicans, who have blocked passage of the measure in prior years, left the door open for a deal this year in their budget plan by expressing support for “amendments to both the civil and criminal statutes of limitations to further protect children from sexual predators.”
The key roadblock is a provision pushed by advocates to create a one-year window to revive old cases time-barred under current law. That’s is vehemently opposed by the Senate GOP, the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Jewish community and the Boy Scouts of America (inset).