I have very clear memories of walking home from school and having various men in the neighborhood try and lure me into their houses. It was in 5th-6th grade going to Terra Centre (so the Ponds area). I used to walk alternative routes home and remember older men trying to tell me it 'wasn't safe to be walking alone' and kept trying to get me to come into their houses. In a few instances I would be playing with another friend at a playground after school and older men would try to convince us to hang at their houses. Although I was young at about 9-10 years old, I knew what they were trying to do. Although I ran away or said I would scream if they came closer, it still bothered me.

I would mention it to my parents, but as I was a latchkey kid, they thought I was making it up.

After I started middle school and had to take the bus in, the whole issue dropped from my mine until I went to visit my parents with kids of my own. I talked to my parents again about all the weird men who used to try and lure me in. They didn't recall of any police reports of pedophiles in the area, but I wonder if anyone else had the same thing happen to them in the Ponds area of Burke or heard of anything. It wasn't just one man and one house - but many.

Growing up in the 70's and 80's there were lots of sexual predators that flew under the radar because our parent's generation was incredibly naive. I went to Catholic schools and told my parents about the pervy behavior of the priests and their response was: "Don't say that about a man of the cloth." No wonder the Catholic church was able to hide the molestation charges for years.
In my neighborhood in North Springfield in the late 70's, a neighbor was charged with diddling kids and he was the married, government employee type, not some guy in a trench coat.
We also had a Good Humor man that was a pedophile. He would tell us that we could stay at his house if we ever ran away. He had his phone number printed on the wooden spoons! One of my friends got into a fight with his parents and stayed at the guy's house and the guy tried to get him drunk and stoned. Super creepy.

ROSIE GORDON got her little puss stuffed and a bag over her gook head.