The prosecution of prominent psychiatrist William Ayres for child molesting, which I blogged about most recently HERE, owes in large part to the tireless efforts of author and reporter Victoria Balfour. Now, Ms. Balfour's investigation has won her an Award for Excellence in the Media for meritorious public service from the Institute of Violence, Abuse, and Trauma and the Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence.
In its award letter, the Council commended Balfour for performing "a valuable service to society by using the power of the media as a catalyst for pursuing justice."
Balfour will be honored at the 14th International Conference on Family Violence, Abuse and Trauma on September 25 in San Diego, California.
Meantime, word is out that the San Mateo County (California) District Attorney's Office has decided to retry Ayres after extensive talks with jurors who deadlocked in favor of conviction on most counts.
Ayres, 77, is a former president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry who treated hundreds of delinquent boys sent to him by the county's juvenile justice system. He was charged with molesting six of these former patients under the guise of giving them medical exams.
More on Balfour and the Ayres case is available at the William Ayres Watch blog.
www.williamayreswatch.blogspot.com has an excellent post that exposes the lies Ayres has been telling about his training.
ReplyDeleteayres treated both boys from the county's justice system, AND he had private "practice" as well.
ReplyDeleteThe six former "patients" were from his private practice, as were the out-of-statute victims who testified to show a pattern of behavior.
Thanks very much for your coverage here!
Victoria Balfour deserves this award, she worked hard for the victims, justice, and the children of America!
ReplyDeleteDeep Sounding,
ReplyDeleteThanks for clarifying.
- Karen
I was a patient or Dr. Ayres in Boston at the Baker Center in 1962. I had many sessions w/him...my parents wanted to find out why I didn't like school. Well, I just didn't like school! I did finish college and rcvd my degree.
ReplyDeleteAs a patient I was 17 yrs. old attending college at the time. Our sessions never touched on why I didn't like school. I always tried to figure out why everything he brought up was of a sexual nature...thinking maybe he wanted to see how matuire I was? or something along those lines. He never touched me but we never dealt w/my school "problem". It was pretty simple to me...I was bored w/at school! Finding this article on him shocked me, I remember when he left Boston he gave me his address and phone # if I ever needed his help...help he never gave me. After reading all the articles I now understand why all his questions and 'treatment' were of a sexual nature. I am 64 yrs. old now...but still shocked at the path he has taken. Very disturbing. If the accusations are true..and they sure seem to be...he needs severe punishment...regardless of his age or physical problems. He has ruined sooo many lives. I'm a very spititual person as are my 2 sons and I don't hate...but he needs to be locked up and spend the rest of his life behind bars for the harm he has caused innocent youngsters. It would be his karma for his totally unacceptable deeds.
Joel:
ReplyDeleteI would like to hear more about your story at Judge Baker. I contribute to the William Ayres blog
Could you email me?
trapellar@gmail.com
Thanks
Victoria Balfour
Victoria received her award today, to a standing ovation! Congrats to Victoria!
ReplyDeleteThe Boston Police Department is looking for victims of Ayres in Boston from 1959-1963. Sgt. John Donovan of the Crimes Against Children unit posted this "Looking for Victims of Ayres" message over at www.williamayreswatch.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteBoston Police
Crimes Against Children Unit
617-343-6183, 617-343-6186
DonovanJ.bpd@cityofboston.gov
I, Sgt. Det. John Donovan , am the Supervisor in the BPD CACU. I just recently became aware of this blog site.
If there are any victims out there or anyone that can provide any information on incidents that happened in Boston, MA, please contact me and or the Suffolk County DA CPT 617-610-4300.
Please pass this info on.
This is kind of like the case of Aaron Vargas. You can go to SAVEAARON.COM for info.
ReplyDelete