Florida Man accused of molesting 13-year-old with Asperger’s Syndrome
The internet is mimics the regular world… a real bad place. The bad thing about the internet is cases like this but the good thing about the internet is being able to get the message out on who’s doing these type of things.
Even if they didn’t have sex, you know this guy’s intent. He was going to try to have sex with her. If you don’t think so then you’re naive. It’s hurtful to read that teenagers don’t have many friends. It makes me sad.
A 33-year-old Florida man is on trial for allegedly seducing a 13-year-old Frankfort girl who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome and having sex with her in a Mokena motel.
A Will County jury listened to several sexually explicit messages read aloud Tuesday as the girl, now 14, explained how Jon J. Filipkowski of Jensen Beach, Fla., posed as a 13-year-old boy sending messages to her cell phone.
Filipkowski is charged with traveling to meet a minor and several counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. His attorney says Filipkowski visited the girl to celebrate their two-month anniversary but never had sex with her. Testimony in the trial is expected to last all week.
Before the girl took the witness stand Tuesday, her father explained how the girl’s medical condition left her without many friends and made her a target of bullies at school. He said his daughter sees everything in black and white.
Then the girl began her testimony, telling the jury she met Filipkowski in an Internet chat room in April 2010, when she was 13. She said he claimed to be a 13-year-old boy and used a different name, even sending her a fake photograph. The pair began trading hundreds of messages a day, she said, and after a few weeks she began to fall in love with him.
Assistant State’s Attorney Chris Regis questioned the girl about the messages, reading many of them out loud with Filipkowski in the courtroom. They became increasingly sexual, and the girl sometimes bowed her head and blocked her face as Regis read. She said Filipkowski revealed his true identity, and age, to her after about three weeks.
She said she felt sick, violated and disgusted, but their relationship continued. She said they created a code for sex acts based upon days of the week, and they talked about how they couldn’t reveal their relationship until she turned 17 or 18. The girl said she still felt like she was in love with him by early June 2010, before he traveled to Will County.
Later, though, the jury watched a videotaped interview in which the girl denied having sex with Filipkowski. Prosecutors contend she lied on the videotape to protect him after their relationship was revealed.
Neil Adams, Filipkowski’s attorney, said the girl was badgered and hounded in that interview to say they had sex. He also said Filipkowski made no attempt to conceal his visit to Will County, meeting several of the girl’s friends while he was here.
