"For every 41-year-old Rob there was once a 6-year-old Robby that dealt with the horrors of what someone like you did to them. It might be hard for you, Dennis, to look past this 41-year-old man that I am today. But I am not speaking to you as this man; I am speaking to you as the 6-year-old boy you molested."
Rob Buswell spoke those powerful words on Aug. 1, 2013 inside a Prince William County, Va., courtroom as part of a victim-impact statement. He was confronting the monster who stole a piece of his life so many years ago and had done the same to countless numbers of innocent children.
Attaining that bit of closure was a long and arduous journey for Rob, but he's not stopping with the conviction of a monster he helped bring to justice all these years later. Rob is on a mission to change Virginia State law to expose information about predators convicted before the state's sex offender registry went into effect and make their information publicly and easily accessible.
THE CASE
In 1978, 6-year-old Robby Buswell was molested by his T-ball coach in rural Virginia. The coach, Dennis Reed Dyer, was a typical predator: He befriended Robby's stepbrother and the rest of the family and gained their trust. His parents never had any idea.
"No they never suspected him," Robby says. "They were groomed like we were. He knew exactly what he was going to do to us."
The operative word is "us." At the time, Rob had no idea that Coach Dyer was also victimizing his stepbrother. For years, he repressed what had happened to him - until the day came that he had children of his own. That's when he decided to start gathering information about this monster molester.
"I was being selfish in the beginning. I simply wanted to release this weight I was carrying...the weight was unbearable," Rob says.
But he soon found the courage to call his stepbrother and finally ask him "that question" - had he, too, been molested? As he feared, the answer was yes; his stepbrother confirmed he had been molested.
So Rob Googled Dyer and - to his horror and disgust - found he wasn't on the sex offender registry. He was certain he had done this to other kids but there was no sign of him on any registry. Rob did, however, find Dyer's current address. Armed with this information and an old photo of him and his coach, Robby made the courageous decision to go to the police.
But he did it in a way that he felt would help him keep it together.
"I drove down to Manassas and drove around until I found a police officer who had just pulled someone over, so it would be one-on-one for me. I was scared to walk into the police station because this guy was tied to the police. I waited until the officer was done writing a ticket, and I said, 'I have to tell you something. I was molested when I was 6.' "
At that point, in 2007 - nearly three decades after he had been victimized - the investigation finally got underway. And at that point, Robert called his mother from the police station.
"She broke down over the phone. It was very hard for me. I saw a mother crying for her 6-year-old boy. I am that boy, but I was at that point 35 and a parent."
But the investigation was stymied quickly because evidence was scant.
"It was basically a he-said, he-said, he-said, at that point." Rob says. "So I gave up."
THE INVESTIGATION RE-IGNITES
Rob dropped everything for three years and then he got a painful ping in his stomach.
"One of my children was turning 6 - the same age I was when I was molested. I needed to try one more time."
Rob reached out to the Commonwealth's Attorney office in Virginia and hooked up with a dogged investigator who believed his story. Soon, the investigator made a startling discovery.
"She found out that prior to 1994, when the Virginia state sex offender registry launched, Dennis was convicted of two counts of sodomy. Ironically his conviction happened after he did this to us," says Rob, adding, "It made me feel guilty for not telling on him."
Dennis was able to evade any serious jail time.
But armed with this information, police set up a phone call sting between Rob and his molester. Cops got what they needed from the call and eventually Dennis Dyer pled guilty to molesting the boys. Now he is a registered sex offender. He was also sentenced to five years in jail for one count, but the sentence was suspended.
"Our goal was to get him on the registry, that's all we cared about, " Rob says.
Now, Rob is embarking on a new mission.
LEGISLATIVE PUSH
As a follow-up to that profound victory, Rob is now spearheading a push that would create a supplement to the sex offender registry - adding sex offenders from decades ago to the Virginia state sex offender registry. The proposed Senate Bill 1074, which is now in front of the Virginia legislature, would require state police to comb through local court records, primarily for sex offenses committed against children, and add the names of sex offenders between 1980 and 1994 to a separate but publicly searchable list. Other states are grappling with this same issue, but opposition has been strong.
As straightforward and beneficial as that sounds, the plan has attracted staunch opposition - primarily related to the cost in man hours but also because of the issue of potential mistaken identity.
"The wider database would subject more people to the confusion of mistaken identities and there is the issue of ex-post facto because these offenses happened long ago," Mary Devoy, an activist pushing for different sex offense registry reforms, told a legislative hearing.
But Rob argues he's just trying to make this information easily accessible to parents. "This information already exists," he says. "It's public information but it's in the combined criminal record exchange where the public can't find it."
He hopes the legislation passes so that more children can be protected from predators and that fewer children have to give victim-impact statements like the one he did.
"So in the end, Coach, you reap what you sow," Rob continued in addressing Dyer that day in court, which delivered a modest form of closure. "I have paid a heavy price for your crime. Through my children I have learned patience and empathy. But, Dennis, for you I have neither patience nor empathy. You have already taken way too much from me. I want this to burn into your being as the memory of you has burnt into mine. Every time you see a storm and see that gray looming, know that is you. Every time you see the fleeting rainbow afterwards, know that is what you took from me. Remember this."
The bill has now passed through committee and could come up for a full vote in front of the entire Virginia legislature.
POSTSCRIPT
To find out more about the Rob Buswell's proposed legislation visit https://www.facebook.com/robbysrule
And you can call or email your local legislator to make your feelings known.
Jon Leiberman is an Emmy award-winning investigative correspondent, host, producer, victim advocate and author. He recently wrote the book "Whitey On Trial," about the mob. In addition to contributing to HNGN, he is a contributor to "Snapped" on Oxygen and various other television shows. Leiberman is a former correspondent for "America's Most Wanted." Follow him on Twitter @reporterjon.
