Victim Sexually Abused by Probert Describes ‘every Parent’s Nightmare’

By Samantha Perry
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
August 13, 2016

http://www.bdtonline.com/news/victim-sexually-abused-by-probert-describes-every-parent-s-nightmare/article_c394a338-6100-11e6-a76f-d798eeedc64c.html

During a sentencing hearing for Timothy Probert, who pleaded guilty in April to 37 charges related to sexual abuse of boys while a church volunteer and mentor for at-risk youth, two victims addressed the court. Following is the full statement of one of those victims:

“I am thankful for the opportunity to address this court. I intend to do so plainly, directly and honestly.

“I am here as a victim of Tim Probert.

“I am here because Tim Probert systematically and methodically groomed me as a 14 year old boy to feed his twisted, pathetic sexual appetites. Tim Probert was an elder in my church. He was a family friend. He was trusted by the family of my closest friend.

“Tim Probert was strategic to establish a friendship with me so that I would become increasingly sexual with him. Over the course of approximately two years I spent about four different nights at Tim Probert’s house. The progression was always the same. First friendship through shooting pool; sharing meals; watching movies. Along the way alcohol was always introduced. Then Tim would provide us with pornography to watch with him. As a 14-year-old, pubescent boy with my earliest access to alcohol I masturbated in the presence of Tim Probert. As a grown man, a trusted citizen of our community, a family friend, an elder of the church of Jesus Christ, Tim Probert masturbated in my presence. Tim Probert asked me if he could masturbate me, which I declined. I was unable to see it at the time, but have come to believe this was the carefully choreographed work of a seasoned sexual predator.

“The euphoria of having access to alcohol and pornography always wore off and gave way to a smothering shame for the sexual abuse that happened in Tim Probert’s house. That’s the way you feel when someone takes advantage of you; when they prey on your youth, immaturity, raging hormones, and naivete. On one occasion the shame and despair were so heavy that I simply walked out of Tim’s house in my underwear with a blanket wrapped around me. I wanted to get away fro him and from the shame, but I felt trapped. That’s how you feel when someone treats you like you exist to fulfill their deeply perverted sexual cravings.

“Tim Probert sexualized me in a way that should never happen to a 14-year-old boy. Undoubtedly, it was largely to blame for the sexually destructive behavior, which marked my high school years. The early access to alcohol started me down a path of regular alcohol abuse.

“The sexual abuse I suffered at Tim Probert’s hands also left me with a nagging anxious question — who else was being abused? How far was it going? Surely he was not abusing those two younger boys who were staying at his house? Surely to God he was not that messed up. Most assuredly, he was.

“The sexual abuse I suffered at Tim Probert’s hands, also left me with other questions. What should I do? Who should I tell? What would happen if I came forward?

“Shame has way of keeping you quiet. A conversation with Tim also kept me quiet.

“Tim, you told me to my face you had changed. You went so far as to say “I’m sorry for how things used to be over here.”

“Frankly, I thought it was a pathetic apology, but I told myself it was the best you could do.

“I think it did what you intended it to do. It gave me just enough assurance that you wouldn’t abuse young boys anymore, and I was wrong.

“I have concluded, Tim Probert, that your apology was one of two things. It was either the worst of a man who is so sick that his craving for young boys overrides what he knows to be right. Or it was the worst of man who is so hardened and manipulative that he refuses to change. Either way, and in light of your proven ability to manipulate and deceive, I am convinced that you have no business being in free society at any stage of your remaining life. Sadly I believe prison is the best place for you.

“Tim Probert, I had hoped that you had been born again. That’s not impossible. But people who have been born again are like Jesus, who maximized His own suffering to minimize ours. You have sought to maximize your own comfort over the last three years by dragging out this legal process out as long as you can. You’ve added to our suffering by trying to minimize your own. These are the marks of an unchanged person.

“Tim Probert, this is the last thing I intend to say to you this side of heaven. I do hope to see you there. I say this as someone who has forgiven you and continues to forgive you. The frightening truth is this: For those who cause a child to stumble it would be better for them to have a millstone hung from their neck and to be thrown into the heart of the sea. The judgment of Almighty God and his Son, Jesus Christ is depicted in Holy Scriptures as a river of blood flowing chest high for 200 miles. Tim you desperately need Jesus Christ.

“And at the end of the day, I am unfit to make definitive calls about your spiritual condition. But if Jesus Christ became a man, took God’s wrath for you on the cross and got up from the dead then I believe there is hope for you in Him. It seems to me that you stand the best chance of truly making that hope your own in prison, where your sexual appetites for children will be starved and, by God’s grace, you’ll have a chance to turn to Him instead.

“To this court ...

“As a victim of Tim Probert, who has fought depression and spent 6 months with a counselor I plead with this court to keep this man in prison where he cannot abuse anyone else. Most importantly to protect our children and for justice to be served. But also to protect Tim from himself.

“I do so as someone who is not most fundamentally Tim Probert’s victim. But as someone who has hope through Jesus Christ. And in the midst of terrible anguish have been reminded that God will make a new creation and the former things will not be remembered or come into mind. I pray that my fellow victims and those who have suffered unspeakable pain will know and rest in that same hope.

“God have mercy on this court.”