Local and national experts are coming together in Mid-Michigan to teach people how to identify possible sexual predators.
Larry Nassar survivor Larissa Boyce will be speaking at the MSU Union Ballroom on the campus of Michigan State University Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
The forum is designed to inform the community on "Nice Guy" or "Pillar of the Community" or "Acquaintance" sexual offenders.
Boyce will be joined by Jim Clemente, a member of the FBI/NYPD Sexual Exploitation of Children Task Force, Tashmica Torok, the executive director of the Firecracker Foundation, and Francey Hakes, a former federal prosecutor.
According to Clemente, who was himself victimized as a teen by his basketball coach - approximately 90% of child sexual victimization crimes are committed by people the children know and trust.
According to the experts, these offenders are methodical - skilled in grooming - and test the waters with "innocent" behavior that hide their true motives.
They put up smoke screens and always have a convincing explanation if anyone ever questions their intentions.
"Nice guy offenders" are experts at getting away with their crimes. They groom their victims and they groom their communities.
They know that while people are vigilant and on the lookout for the "monster predator" those same people will look right past the nice guy who is doing nice things in public for youth and their parents, all the while committing their crimes in private.
Some members of that panel will also be speaking with survivor Brianne Randall-Gay during a meeting with Meridian Township's Sexual Assault Prevention Committee.
Randall-Gay filed a police report against Nassar in 2004, but Meridian Township police never forwarded it to prosecutors.
Meridian Township hired her to be a part of the committee earlier this year.
The committee meeting will take place at the Meridian Township Building on Marsh Road in Okemos from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
The forum designed to inform the community on "Nice Guy" or "Pillar of the Community" or "Acquaintance" sexual offenders will also take place at the Meridian Township Building from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday.
