After getting himself into some serious trouble for what seemed like an innocent prank, college jock Joey is assigned to a sexual predator counselor who who conducts a humiliatingly thorough investigation in this fun story from Luther5!

Joey - Part 1: Prelude
by Luther5
Series: Joey
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I read the court room notes with both interest and dismay. Here was a young man, at the top of his game, suddenly thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

I paged through the folder which had been sent to me by Judge Laura Medcalf, complete with her marginal annotations. Several photographs of the young man at the center of the lawsuit completed her portion of the documents in my possession. Also included in the folder were a number of testimonial letters from high school coaches, friends, and family. Was this young man guilty of a serious crime, or was he simply the wrong person in the wrong place, guilty, perhaps, more of a bad decision rather than a deliberate crime? It was my job to answer these important questions.

As a sex offender counselor, I was asked to assess the boy, a young man, really, and report my findings to the court. These findings, as well as those of others involved in the case, would determine what, if any, punishment would be decided. I was asked to use all the tools at my disposal to get inside the head of the accused university student, a nineteen-year old male who suddenly found himself in trouble.

As I interviewed several representatives from the university where my new client attended school, I began to establish a mental picture of him. Boyishly handsome, clearly toned and fit, Joey DeLandis arrived for his freshman year of college with a long list of athletic achievements. He had been recruited by many universities during his senior year of high school, but, as the time came to make a decision on which one he would attend, he had chosen a campus fairly close to home, just a quick forty-five minutes away. This had surprised his doting parents, who had imagined him attending an Ivy League school on the east coast, or one of any number of large institutions on the west coast. Joey, however, for a variety of reasons, had decided to remain near his Midwestern roots where he was most comfortable.

Swimming and diving and water polo were his sports of choice, and he excelled in all three. Joey made friends quickly at his new school, and, because he was living in one of the campus dorms, his contacts among the university’s general population were even more extensive than usual. Everyone seemed to like him: underclassmen, upperclassmen, professors, coaches, the dorm Resident Assistants, everyone. Already he was known as the former high school standout athlete, ready to make a splash….literally…. on the university’s swim team.

All was going well until that fateful Thursday afternoon in January of his second semester. Joey and four other swim team members had just finished an intense workout with their coach and were relieved to be showered and dressed and headed back to the dorm. Before leaving, however, they heard the sound of voices, female voices. Looking up toward the ceiling, one of Joey’s teammates noticed a slight opening between the wall and the overhead tiles. The opening once housed a case containing two emergency floodlights, used primarily in case of a power failure. For whatever reason the lights had been removed. Instead of repairing the ceiling with a new piece of tile, however, a small opening remained, an opening which looked directly into the female swim team’s locker room. While the shared wall between the two locker rooms was substantial and secure, the aperture on the ceiling was not.

“Hey, man,” whispered Matt, one of Joey’s best friends on the team. “I can hear what they’re saying on the other side. The girls are probably changing clothes or something. Maybe we can get a look at them!”

Climbing on top of the lockers propped against the wall, Matt positioned himself directly alongside the small opening.

“Shit, I can’t see a thing. But I can hear them plain as day. And I think they’re naked!”

It was then that Joey had a brilliant idea, at least it had seemed brilliant at the time. Handing Matt his smart phone, he told him to turn it on “RECORD” and then place it in the small opening. What they could not see with their own eyes perhaps the smart phone might.

After a few minutes had gone by, Matt retrieved the phone and gave it to Joey.

“Well, what did we get? Anything good?”

Joey looked at the newly recorded video with excited silence. There, right on the screen before him, were several members of the women’s swim team as naked as jaybirds. They had just removed their street clothes and were headed to the showers for the mandatory “pre swim rinse” that all were required to take before using the campus pool. Once they wrapped themselves in long white towels, they headed around the corner to the showers. The video was crystal clear and gave exact detail of every inch of their unclothed bodies.

Joey’s teammates grinned with lustful satisfaction at their accomplishment as they ogled the newly-made video and persuaded Matt to climb up the lockers a second time, hoping the phone could capture even more of the girls as they returned from the showers. At this point, however, things began to go downhill fast.

Matt, in placing the phone back into the crevice, pushed it just a little too far. Instead of recording more of the girls in their locker room, the phone went through the opening completely. Landing on top of one of the locker room benches, the phone was now completely out of reach.

Joey looked up at Matt in horror when he realized what had happened. His phone, registered in his name, was now in the women’s locker room. And anyone who opened the phone could retrieve his salacious….and illegal….video recording. He’d be in big trouble over this if things came to light. And, the entire thing had been his idea, not Matt’s.

Joey’s teammates exited their locker room quickly, leaving him to ponder this dilemma all on his own. Matt continued to offer his apologies as he too left the locker room, apologies, however, which did little to comfort Joey as he wondered what in the hell he was going to do next.

There was nothing he could do, at least not immediately. He couldn’t just walk into the Women’s Locker Room asking if anyone had seen his phone. Once in the outside corridor, Joey thought what his options might be. If no one opened the phone, he’d be safe, at least for a while. Maybe he could say he had loaned the phone to one of the girls, thus explaining its presence there. But that didn’t seem too plausible. Why would the girls film their own teammates changing clothes? No, he’d have to think of something better than that.

If someone opened the phone and accessed the video before he could delete it, there was no way he could explain its existence without incriminating himself. Agitated and confused, he decided to return to his dorm room, playing over and over in his mind what he might say if push came to shove.

The next morning two members of campus police were at his dormitory door, one of them holding his phone.

“Are you Joseph Matthew DeLandis?”

Joey looked at the two men, breaking out into a cold sweat as his did. Later on, he remembered little of the specifics of his meeting with the officers as they interrogated him.

“Were you in the men’s swim team locker room yesterday? Is this your phone? Did you secretly record a video of the women’s locker room?” And on and on. Not being used to this kind of situation, Joey knew he wasn’t doing very well in answering all the intrusive questions which were being flung his way. Maybe he needed a lawyer. Would he have to call his parents and request one? And how could he explain his situation to his Mom and Dad?

By 11:00 am that morning he had made the dreaded phone call to his parents. Without asking too many questions, they assured their son they would be on their way to the police station, accompanied by the family lawyer. In the meantime, they urged him to stop talking to the police until they arrived.

In spite of the best efforts of the DeLandis lawyer, who described to police what he considered his client’s actions as a “foolish, tasteless prank,” Joey, two hours later, had signed a typed-written confession admitting that (1) he did indeed video tape the women in their locker room, and (2) he knew what he had done was illegal.

After paying the $50,000 bond on which he was being held, Joey’s parents drove him back to the family home. Returning to the dorm, suggested his father, was probably not a good idea.

The next day, Joey appeared at a county court hearing before a stern-looking female judge. Wearing his best suitcoat and tie, Joey stood silently, waiting for what was next. After hearing the initial facts of the case, the judge ruled that Joey was to remain off-campus completely, that both the dorms and athletic buildings were, for the time being, strictly off-limits. Also, as part of Joey’s pre-trial preparation, she ordered him to report to a sex offender clinic for a complete evaluation. His cooperation, or lack of, with the clinic would be definitely noted by the court, she explained. The clinic’s recommendations would figure prominently in the court’s decision when Joey’s case eventually came to trial. No trial date would be set until he had completed his evaluation.

After being asked if he understood exactly what was being required of him, Joey, with head bowed, managed to say, “Yes, I understand, your honor.” With that, a stunned-looking nineteen-year old athlete left the courtroom, remanded to the custody of his equally stunned parents.

CONTINUE THE STORY:
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1 Comment

  1. GutPunch27 - October 20, 2020, 5:37 pm

    Hey Luther, great stories, it would be a e if his other young straight friends had to get involved or more happens to Joey. Love your stories.

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