Speech to Public Officials in Lake Forest, Illinois, Regarding Child-Molesting Teachers and Other Corrupt Professionals in Lake County

            Thank you, Mr. Mayor,… esteemed members of the City Council.

            My name is Joseph Kopsick. I currently live in Waukegan, but for most of the first eighteen years of my life, I lived in Lake Bluff. I attended Lake Forest High School, graduating in 2005.

            My father is an attorney, a former member of the District 65 school board (in the 1990s), and served as president of the Lake County Bar Association for one year in the 2000s. In 1993, he defended a child molester in court for attempted rape of a 19-year-old. And in 1995 and 1996 – when I was eight and nine – my father molested and raped me multiple times.

            My father has a friend – an attorney based in Lake Forest – who grabbed my behind, and the behinds of other children, at his pool parties in the 1990s. He did this openly, while talking loudly about what he was doing – in full view of the other adults present – who did nothing about it, besides laugh, and continue drinking.

            But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

            I rise, this evening, to bring your attention to a problem in this community which has gone unresolved for some time now. That problem is Dave Miller.

            You might have heard - within the last three years - that former L.F.H.S. theater director David Miller, was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to several teenage boys.

            Now, some of you might be thinking, “A child-molesting teacher? In my town? That can’t be; or else I would have heard something about it.” And why is that? Because you’ve heard of everything that has ever happened? Or because people enjoy talking about bad news?

            This is the “culture of silence” that allows child abuse to happen undetected and without consequences. If a problem is not pleasant to talk about, then we ignore it. And it festers.

            That’s why it should be no surprise to you, to discover that David Miller has been abusing teenage boys on and off since 1976. He has been allowed to sexually humiliate this community’s children for forty-seven years – more than two generations – without a single trial, and (evidently) without a single criminal charge, an arrest, or even one moment in jail.

            Not only did Miller admit that the texts he sent were inappropriate, but several boys were intimidated into saying that they were not; by an L.F.H.S. official whom I’d be glad to name (Jay Hoffmann).

            In 2019, Judge Joseph Salvi prevented those boys’ lawsuit from going forward, correctly applying Illinois’s Statute of Limitations on reporting child abuse after a certain amount of time (a statute which, of course, does not apply to litigants whom already got trials and lost them).

            But the story doesn’t end there.
            That’s because, in 2020 – thanks to a new law signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker – those statutory limitations were curtailed. The effects of that new law – House Bill 2135 – included a provision that the Statute of Limitations on reporting criminal sexual assault does not begin running during a period when the victim is subject to intimidation.

            Now, Governor Pritzker can pat himself on the back all he wants; for testing a few of those rape kits that had built-up in police evidence lockers, and for partially repealing that Statute of Limitations. But the odds that he would ever sign a complete repeal of those statutes, are probably very low. That’s because his cousin, Tom Pritzker… was friends with Jeffrey Epstein. (Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Business).

            To the public officials in the audience: How many of you knew that there is no longer any limitation on bringing abuse lawsuits, for victims who were intimidated? Raise your hands.

            To the educators in the audience: How many of you knew that?

            Well, how are children supposed to learn that, if you didn’t know that?

            Now, you might say, “That’s too difficult or controversial a subject for our children to learn.” To which I say, “No, it’s not. Not for the juniors and seniors who are studying pre-law at L.F.H.S.. Not if you want your kids to be able to defend themselves against child molesters legally as well as physically.”

            And besides, Dave Miller is not the only teacher in this community who has been accused of attempting to molest children.

            There’s Cynthia Martin, an L.F.H.S. coach and driving instructor who abused girls in the 1980s. She employed the same methods that Miller did; seeking-out students who were vulnerable because they had lost friends or family members, and then plying them with alcohol and marijuana, and gradually introducing physical touch. Martin’s case was decided in February 2022, but information on it is difficult to find. It’s not clear that she was ever punished.

            Next, there’s Lake Bluff Junior High math teacher and soccer coach Charles Ritz III. He abused kids in the 1970s and 1980s, claiming at least five male victims, who alleged that school officials helped cover-up for Ritz, in the same way that school officials did for Dave Miller. In 2017, Ritz pled guilty. He received no jail time, and just two years’ probation. That junior high later changed its name to Lake Bluff Middle School.

            There’s also Diane M. Ross, a mother from Lake Bluff who taught English literature at Lake Forest College. She submitted to arrest in 2000 after police determined that she had shared images of child abuse on an online web forum. She pled guilty to solicitation of child pornography, but the charges of disseminating child pornography were dropped. She received no jail time… two years of probation… - are you noticing a pattern? - … and community service.

            So that’s four teachers – in just two adjacent towns – who were discovered to be pedophiles, within a span of thirty years.

            But that’s not all.

            Jonathan Dick, the owner of Sweet’s ice cream shop in downtown Lake Forest, was accused of molestation and rape by his own nephew, back in the early 2000s. Now, if that’s not true, then why is there an entire book about it?

            The victim’s mother – Jonathan Dick’s sister-in-law – became a psychologist, published a book written by herself and her son, and then fled the state, due to fear and frustration over never getting a trial. She’s worried that Jonathan Dick has a lawyer on retainer, for in case he ever gets accused of molesting a child again.

            Mr. Mayor, these crimes – and this culture of silence – cannot stand. Child rapists don’t deserve fines and community service and probation; they deserve to be in prison; for a long, long time.

            You all might be saying to yourselves, “Well, I had nothing to do with this.” … That’s the problem.

            If you haven’t heard about these crimes by now, then you are incompetent, because you at least heard about Dave Miller, and you decided not to look into whether any other teachers were hurting kids.

            And if you did know about these crimes, then you are complicit in those crimes, because you said and did nothing, when you should have, at least, spoken up.

            Ladies and gentlemen, I have a list, in my possession, of over one hundred professionals, in this county, who have either molested children, made awkward advances against children, covered-up for child-molesting teachers, stood in the way of children attempting to bring charges against their abusers, or may be using their profession as a way to get near vulnerable children.

            And I’m sure that all of you would like to do something about this. But there’s only one way to be sure.

            That is why - as a precautionary measure – I have placed each and every one of your nine names, onto that list… temporarily… as pedophile enablers…. because you knew about some of these crimes, and yet you did and said nothing.

            The only way to get your names off of that list will be for each of you to… personally, and individually… do something that will lead to arrests, or charges being filed, against the people I have named.

            Don’t worry about what’s legally possible right now; don’t worry about Double Jeopardy, or ex post facto laws. The laws can be changed. We don’t need the law on our side to fight back against child abuse; all we have to do is provide an open forum through which abuse claimants can network with each other, free from censorship. That way, we can compare notes, and figure out which victims of these five people are still eligible to file charges.

            I made a promise, to a mother in this town, that I would attend these city council meetings every month until something is done about this problem. So that's what I'll do.

            If you continue to allow me to speak, at these forums, then I’ll tell you which of this county’s military bases was the scene of a gang-rape of a 12- or 13-year-old girl, back in 2005. I’ll tell you which former L.F.H.S. teacher covertly hit on a student while committing academic dishonesty. I’ll tell you which professional football player had a sexual relationship with an L.F.H.S. student while she was possibly underage.

            And just to prove to you that I’m not bluffing… those names are Great Lakes Naval Station, Laura Flangel, and Dan Roethlisberger.

            But if you don’t allow me to speak, then anyone and everyone who attempts to prevent me from speaking, at these forums, will be added to that list, as an enabler of child sexual abuse. And then, there won’t be one pair of hands, one square inch of sidewalk, or one gutter, in this town, that won’t be clogged with copies of that list, complete with photographs and addresses.

            If you nine elected officials continue to refuse to do anything which will lead to the imprisonment of David Miller, Cynthia Martin, Charles Ritz, Diane Ross, and Jonathan Dick, then every sin of this community – no matter how minor – will be exposed, until there isn’t a single adult in this county who doesn’t know either a racist police officer, or someone who’s been accused of attempting to molest or traffic a child.

            Since the majority of you have been derelict in your duty to educate your children about the specifics of these dangers, I will not rest until every child in this town can name these five people by heart.

            I do not make empty promises. You are looking at someone who has nothing to lose.

            You have twenty-eight days to do something about this. If no arrests are made by September 4^th – the day before the next city council meeting - then the nine of you will no longer be welcome in this town.

            The clock is ticking. Good day, gentlemen.

            [First Author's Note:

            This speech was originally intended to be delivered at the August 7th, 2023 meeting of the Lake Forest City Council.

            I decided not to deliver this speech at that meeting, because: 1) this speech would take about ten minutes to deliver, while the Council stipulates a three-minute speaking limit (as does the District 115 Board of Education for its meetings); and 2) when I called the office of the Lake Forest City Council, the operator informed me that the city council "doesn't have control over the schools", and instructed me to call the District 115 Board of Education.

            I consider that statement to have been an attempt to deflect responsibility away from the people who run Lake Forest (i.e., the mayor and the eight city council members). In my opinion, this is unacceptable, because there are accused child molesters in Lake Forest whom have nothing to do with the schools (most notably, Jonathan Dick), and are therefore not under the so-called "control" of the District 115 Board of Education.

            Therefore, Lake Forest Mayor Stanford R. "Randy" Tack, the eight current members of the Lake Forest City Council, the woman who answers the phones at the office of the Lake Forest City Council, and the seven current members of the District 115 Board of Education, will all be added to my list of corrupt officials and people who turned blind eyes toward child abuse, until further notice.]

     [Second Author's Note:

     If you would like to watch the speech I delivered to the District 115 Board of Education on August 8th, 2023, please click the link below:

            http://rumble.com/v35xk6k-exposing-child-molesting-teachers-at-the-district-115-school-board-in-lake-.html]

Main body of text written on August 1st, 2023.

Edited and expanded on August 7th through 9th, 2023.

First Author's Note written and added on August 7th, 2023.

Second Author's Note written and added on August 9th, 2023.

Originally published on August 1st, 2023 under the title

"Speech to the Lake Forest City Council on Child-Molesting Teachers (August 7th, 2023)"

Handed-out to Lake Forest residents in print form, but not delivered verbally,

at the August 7th, 2023 meeting of the City Council of Lake Forest, Illinois.

Also handed-out in print form,

and delivered, in part, verbally (in a form modified to suit the circumstances),

at the August 8th, 2023 meeting of the District 115 School Board.