Born: 1990 (circa), United States (assumed)
Died: NA
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Unknown
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
Between 2008 and 2011, Marc Patrick O’Leary raped six women in Seattle and Denver. When the first victim, an eighteen-year-old known as Marie, reported her assault to the Lynwood police officers Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn, she was bullied by the officers into recanting her statement, which then resulted in them charging her with making a false report. Between 2008 and 2012, the Lynwood police labeled twenty-one percent of rape cases as “unfounded,” five times the national average for similarly sized municipalities. An external review of her case found that Marie was “coerced into admitting that she lied” and that the police had ignored strong evidence of the crime to focus on “minor inconsistencies” in her account. No officers were ever disciplined and it was only in 2014—three years after O’Leary was finally arrested—that the city of Lynwood settled a lawsuit brought by Marie for $150,000. While a particularly atrocious example, Marie’s experience is one that many assault survivors will recognise, a reason that others do not come forward, and negligence that enables repeat offenders to continue hurting people.