You could say I know or knew John Gray very well, going back several decades now. When he was running for school board in Goshen, I helped him write positioning statements for his campaign. A long time ago. It’s been a few years, but watching his video, I see the same guy, a person I would call “honest.” I think he was so honest that when PCI: Predator Catchers Indianapolis and Predator Catchers Muncie caught him buying snacks for an upcoming sexual liaison with an 11-year-old girl, he rattled on and on for an hour, incriminating himself more by the minute because he knew they had caught him, and that he felt guilty about it. The guy I have known would have shaken his head at something like this two decades ago. But here he was, a respected community member, the school board president in Goshen with grown kids, a long marriage, and grandchildren who want to look up to him, standing in the middle of Indiana, caught on video trying to do the unthinkable. When I think of John Gray, I think of a church-going family man and respected community leader. But the guy I saw on the remarkable video, and the testimony he gave was John Gray too, a side of people that many don’t even know themselves. And even as he was speaking, and knowing his life was over in every way you can imagine it, he seemed aware of it and wanted to confess to getting it off his shoulders. It’s an amazing examination into what pedophiles are and how even they may not see themselves that way until they are well down the rabbit hole, as he obviously was.
What is significant about this case is it shows just how much you might not know someone. I am a pretty good judge of character, and I would never have thought of John Gray as a pedophile. He’s someone who would have been very critical and morally outraged about such activity. But there he was trying to get an 11-year-old down to her underwear for a massage, and he was at the Dollar Store to buy snacks for her beforehand. And he didn’t deny it, so I said he was honest. At first, he lied about being on the school board when they called him on it during the tape. He lied to the camera. But the honest person I know couldn’t wait to get it out, he couldn’t hold it in, and eventually, he said everything. That was the worst testimony I can think of on record. Typically, people don’t say this much, especially out in front of a store by strangers who confronted him. Typically, they’d clam up and get in their car to drive off and hope to disappear. But the honest part of him wanted to tell on himself, and he sure did. After the video was done, the crowd seemed disappointed that he wasn’t taken to jail and had charges pressed at that time. But honestly, the worst thing that could have happened to him was that tape. His life was as a respected public servant and trusted business advisor. And that brand has now been completely destroyed just for the chance to touch in a sexual way a girl just going into puberty. Life as he knows it is over, and he knew it as they put the handcuffs on him. But he also seemed relieved to get it out in the open. It was a bizarre set of contradictions.
So how many John Grays are out there in the world? Can we really trust anybody? I would say no. We can’t. You think you know people; you think you can trust that crazy uncle or that family friend. Or that school board president. But people have all kinds of things going on, and you really can’t trust anything. As I always say, don’t trust what people say; judge them on what they do. I would never think John Gray would have done anything like this, and I wouldn’t have believed it if it hadn’t come out of his own mouth. But because of citizen journalism, this story was dug out of the dirt and exposed for all to see. And I’m glad it was. Not because I want to see John Gray hurt, but because we need that level of protection in a society where institutionalism can’t hide the dark side of people like him. When people get very good at maintaining a public persona, but in the dark recesses of their personality, they crave sexual contact with children, we need a mechanism in society that can uncover such things. If people can’t control themselves, which he obviously couldn’t, then the fear of that public persona being destroyed is all we have to keep bad behavior from manifesting into outright evil. When we wonder about Pizza Gate in Washington and the client list of Jeffery Epstein, keep John Gray in mind. Think of all those friendly people who might shake your hand and smile to your face who are craving sex with your daughters and grandchildren. Think of the groomer talk of Disney World and the executives who are trying to hide their own demons with mass sexualized activity that makes their miserable lives seem more normal. Think twice about that strange guy walking in your neighborhood or looking at you in the grocery store. We can come up with rules and regulations until we fill libraries with laws that nobody ever reads. All that really keeps bad behavior from happening is accountability. And in this case, a pedophile citizen journalism group created that accountability. The police weren’t going to do the work. The FBI is too busy trying to keep Republicans from winning in the next election.
The CIA is pushing drugs across the border as they always have. Nobody is looking out for our kids. Rather, I would say there is an army of John Grays out there who all want to do the same thing he did. And if you have a daughter or granddaughter, you can bet there is someone in her life looking to groom her for a naked back rub at the cost of a bag of chips purchased at the Dollar Store. If John Gray could participate in pedophilia, anybody could. And his confession comes at a valuable time. People have been wondering how and why pedophilia could occur, and many don’t want to think about it. So, they don’t. But from his own mouth, you can hear why John Gray did it and why he was willing to risk it all for an activity that is beyond sinful. And maybe this video done by these great citizen journalists will wake people up to this terrible evil in our world. Perhaps we’ll find more people willing to fight for children and to help them have an opportunity for a good life. How many people like John Gray didn’t get caught on Saturday, and who function in society as respected people? I think it’s in the many millions. And what kind of people do these abused kids grow up to become? Well, the answer is obvious, and if we want to live in a good society, it starts with each and every one of us. If you see something and think something and don’t stop the evil from happening, well, you’re complicit. So don’t be, and take this lesson for what it is. And when respected people tell you they could never do something so terrible, judge them on what they do, not what they say.
Rich Hoffman
The Gunfighter's Guide: 