Madison

His father and brother, both named John Buonocore, enabled and protected him all these years. 10+ years ago, another victim of Chris’s went to both John Buonocore Jr. and Sr. and they urged her to not go to the police. A few years later, a second victim had the same experience with these two men. While speaking to the judge who sentenced his son to 15 years, John Buonocore Sr. admitted to telling one of the young victims that came to him to help that she would have a hard time getting the police to believe her and it would be a hard case to prove. John Buonocore Senior did have one thing right. It WAS hard to get to where we are today, but guess what? We did it and it ended with his son being sentenced to prison for 15 years. I wonder if he thinks about what could have happened if he decided to be a decent human being & the adult figure that young victim needed, instead of brushing the situation under the rug?

As for me? Instead of brushing it under a rug and pretending it never happened, I really want to share my story in hopes help others. To quote @taylorswift, “there is nothing like a mad woman”…

Thank you Micheal Paluska from ABC Action News - WFTS - Tampa Bayfor interviewing me for this segment. @abcactionnews-blog-blog @abcnews

Cyber-stalking & Harassment, non-consensual porn, deep fakes, and other sexual crimes against people, mainly girls and women, are on the rise. If it’s happening to you or a loved one, you are not the problem, the people, statistically men, that are doing this are the problem. As with most sexual crimes, these crimes are under-reported and investigated. We are ashamed and embarrassed to come forward. We are victim shamed into thinking we are the problem. Instead of brushing it under the rug, we need to talk about it. Have open communication with your children. Be open with your friends and family.

The more we talk about it, the more we take some of the power out of the abusers hands.

November 18, 2021 will be marked down as one of the most empowering days of my life as I testified in court against Christopher Buonocore where the judge acknowledged that all of my pain had a purpose, ultimately helping put him away for 15 years.

Long story short, In 2013, I started being harassed by an anonymous person. After I couldn’t take enough, I went to the police and was turned away. Instead of packing up and calling it a day, my twin sister and I did our own investigation with help from some other family and friends. In 2018, through our own investigations, we unmasked the anonymous person, now known as Christopher Buonocore, an acquaintance from college. We found there were multiple other victims through our investigation and several victims had reached out to Christopher’s brother and father (both named John Buonocore) for help and they repeatedly covered it up. After uniting all the victims and some major convincing to each of our local police departments, one of the local authorities referred the case to the FBI.

Over the last 8 years, I’ve built walls to protect myself and there were days I didn’t want to get out of bed as well as days I didn’t want to live. One of the reasons that kept me going is that I could not let this person win and I needed to stop him from continuing to do this to other girls and women. I kept telling myself that one day all of my pain will have a purpose. This last week, the judge acknowledged that all of my pain DOES have a purpose and could help pave the path for every victim to come after me.

Many reading this may wonder why I chose to share this story and further “embarrass “myself, but I truly think it’s important to show other women or girls that may be going through similar situations that they are not alone and they do not need to continue to stay quiet because of societal pressures or people not believing you. Sex crimes are the most unreported crimes. If the victims do have the courage to report it, they are met with blank stares, victim shaming, or are ignored. If I backed down every time I was turned away by the local authorities, I would not be here today. To the person reading this that may be in a similar situation, don’t let anyone scare you into silence, and don’t be ashamed of any choices you made. Don’t wait for a knight in shining armor to save you because no one is going to fight harder for you than yourself. You are your greatest advocate.

I’m not sure if I will ever get my old self back, but I find comfort in knowing that I was part of the solution. I helped make the world better. I helped strangers. I helped friends. And I helped numerous others that were destined with my same fate that will now never have to go through what I went through. I am lucky that I had the means, knowledge, support network, and determination to do something about it.

I am eternally grateful for each and every one of the people that helped me along the way. I definitely wouldn’t be here today without my twin sister, Christine. I came into this world with my sister and she has had my back since the day we were born. She graciously helped me and in turn, was hit in the crossfire. I couldn’t think of a better partner to go to battle with. Without her knowledge and education, we would not have made it this far. Thank you to Dana and John for taking late-night shifts scouring the internet and piecing together clues with my sister and I. Thank you to the friends that were there for me at some of my absolute lows (you know who you are). Thank you to Bill Lindsay, a New York legislator who assisted us and even personally escorted some of these victims to report this crime. Thank you to Paul Alfrey, the Mayor of Melbourne who helped get my case seen by the Melbourne Police Department after multiple attempts. Thank you to the FBI agents assigned to our case for not only saying, “I believe you.”, but also always going above and beyond, passionately fighting for each and every one of us. Thank you to Lisa who prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States. And lastly, I want to thank every single victim for standing up for themselves with me. It takes strength and guts to do this and as we said once we were united, “The lone wolf dies but the pack survives”. Here we are…We survived.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/new-york-man-sentenced-15-years-federal-prison-cyberstalking-and-sextortion?fbclid=IwAR0LLvsswi-ourxacY6VbFq4OMwdceos5YmK0TUFg72AgZi2IajFnPfXcfk

I wrote this in 2017 after walking out of a family function feeling like I time-traveled into the 1920’s. Kids, marriage and “settling down” seem to be the topics of discussion when measuring a woman’s success, especially at family functions. It’s now 2020, and I still love this piece. Remember today, and everyday that Everyone has different priorities in life.

If you want to become a wife and a mother and choose to put your education or career on the back burner, go for it. If you want to become well established in your career or get a higher education before you marry, good for you. If that means you are 35 when you get married, who cares? If you are a working mother who does both, you go girl.

Let’s agree to take charge of our lives and whatever you choose in life is a perfect choice for you.

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/money/business/2017/01/08/sometimes-cutting-impact-words-questions/96220584/

https://youtu.be/p0aDhzDAqz0