MEDDLING WITH KIDS
New rap for child-sex susp
There was a time, before his first arrest for child sex abuse, when John Stewart Russell led a charmed life.
His 1988 wedding, in St. Patrick’s Cathedral no less, merited mention in The New York Times. A brief acting career didn’t work out, but he still landed bit parts on “Law & Order” and a pair of since-forgotten films. The Northwestern University graduate, with his wife and two kids, settled in Bethel, Vt., a rural town of 1,866.
The good times ended in July 1999, when Russell brought a 14-year-old prospective baby-sitter to his home so she could “get familiar with the house,” according to court documents obtained by the Daily News. Once inside, he allegedly removed the girl’s clothes and then his own. Russell instructed the victim to perform oral sex on him before they engaged in intercourse.
“After he had sex with her they went downstairs and he told (her) that if she said anything he would deny it,” read an affidavit from Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. Terry
Lewis. “He also told
(her) … I will not go to jail for this because I have young children.” Turns out he was right.
A plea deal to a misdemeanor charge let Russell off with a suspended sentence despite the affidavit describing the abuse in horrifying detail. Three decades later, he was busted in Brooklyn on charges of sexually abusing a family friend from the time she was 9 until she turned 11 — a case with creepy overtones of his prior arrest.
“I am thoroughly disgusted at how low this person I once called a friend has sunk,” said a former close associate who met Russell in the mid-1980s. “It’s been like somebody throwing a rock through a plate glass window, and watching it shatter in slow motion.”
Russell graduated from Northwestern in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in communications/theater, and the two men met while working in a YMCA after-school program in Evanston, Ill.
“He was an intelligent, funny guy who who got along with kids, parents and staff,” said the ex-friend, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “There was never any indication of this (other) side to him.”
Russell’s Vermont plea deal included 100 hours of community service and a $500 contribution to a victim’s assistance fund, court documents showed. He was not required to register as a sex offender. And Russell received approval to move with his family to New York City, where he attended a treatment program paid for by his wife, the ex-friend said.
His marriage broke up in New York, where Russell began taking Chinese language lessons at CUNY amid an increasing interest in Asian women, according to his ex-friend. Russell remarried after the split, and the couple welcomed two sons.
He first landed on the NYPD’s radar in 2018, when he was charged with groping a 15-year-old Asian-American girl over and under her clothing. The case was dropped by the Brooklyn district attorney when the girl’s family refused to let her testify, according to a law enforcement source.
Russell’s attorney Mark Bederow countered that the charges disappeared after “credible evidence” of his client’s innocence was shared with prosecutors.
But the 59-year-old man was arrested again this past July after another underage Asian-American girl came forward with allegations that Russell engaged in oral sex and intercourse with her between November 2016 and June 2018.
A criminal complaint further charged Russell asked the victim to “record videos and take photos of (him) engaging in sexual intercourse with another underaged female.” Russell, charged with two felony counts of sexual conduct against a child, lost his job as a City College of New York research assistant.
The college, in an email confirming Russell was an ex-employee, noted they were cooperating with the NYPD probe. But defense lawyer Bederow insisted his client was an innocent man.
“We are very confident that when this case is thoroughly investigated, it will end up in a dismissal by the district attorney or acquittal,” said Bederow.
It can take more than 12 steps to stay sober in the midst of a pandemic.
Recovering alcoholics, addicts or even smokers can instead walk into Central Park, where the Sober Active program meets once a week to help members stay on the right path as the city remains in the grip of the coronavirus.
“The reality is the liquor stores never closed in New York,” said participant Tom Shanahan, 52, at one of the 40-minute sessions last week. “And you’re locked inside. There is nothing to do but go to the liquor store....The in-person 12-step meetings stopped happening.
“They went online, and they are on Zoom, but it’s not the same experience as seeing other people.”
Ben Green, 38 and a dozen years sober, helped Shanahan launch the Wednesday evening group. The elite triathlete bluntly said the workouts became a crucial part of his recovery.
“It’s kind of like life or death,” he explained. “I’ve had two parents die because of drugs, and so it’s very clear to me. You can choose to live and live healthy. Or you can die.”
The yoga sessions offer a safe haven after COVID-19 forced most local 12-step meetings to move from inperson to online. The workouts begin promptly at 6 p.m., with a meeting afterward.
Attendance is capped at 20 people to accommodate social distancing, with masks required and a temperature check upon arrival.
“The only way you keep yourself clean and sober is spending time with other people who also know what you are going through,” explained personal trainer Gustavo A. Guzman, adding he too was in recovery. “People shouldn’t be afraid to come. We use only our first name if we want to. It’s a safe environment.”
Enthusiastic class leader Joanna Meneses, 49, put the group through their paces.
“There is a lot going on, not just in the park but in the world,” she told the class. “So thank you for coming here. If there is one thing that we know that’s tried and true, it’s our health.”
Meneses is determined to kick cigarettes, a habit she took up at age 16 and gave up seven months ago.
“I’ve quit quite a few times, but you just know when this is the time,” she said. “I decided Jan. 7, just before the global loco happened, and I’ve stuck with it. I don’t want to go back again.”
The sessions are also livestreamed via Facebook, with 2,000 people joining remotely for one of the workouts.
“What that tells me is that a lot of people are afraid of beingg in the ppark and ppoten- tially being outed as being in recovery,” said Shanahan. “But (they) are still interested in what we are doing.”
Not all the participants are struggling with sobriety. Makana Chang, 38, popped in after spotting a workout while riding her bicycle.
“I came to the park to go for a ride and just saw the group,” she said. “Yeah, I think it’s great.”
Shanahan said the sessions provide a healthy way to avoid the pitfalls of possible relapse at a time when people are quarantined,q workingg from home or just feeling lonesome.
“The pandemic hit New York, and people were isolating in place and really kind of stuck indoors,” he said. “Suicides have gone through the roof since COVID, overdose rates have increased dramatically. And I know a lot of people who would message me and say, ‘I’ve been drinking every day since March, do you think I have an issue?’
“We have nowhere to go and nothing to do, so we started dong this.”