State: Money lacking for rape centers

TALLAHASSEE -- When Kellie Green was beaten and raped by an intruder in Orlando eight years ago, she felt lucky to be alive. She didn't know that the hard part was still ahead of her.

"I waited three hours at the hospital for someone to do the forensic exam," Green said. "The hospital people kept asking me how I was going to pay. Later, when I told my landlord I had to move, he kept my security deposit because I broke the lease."

She had to navigate the legal system, deal with the hospital collection agency and follow up with doctors to make sure she hadn't contracted a sexually transmitted disease.

Detectives didn't catch the rapist for three years.

"I tried to put my life back together," said Green, 37. "The nights were the worst. I desperately needed to talk to someone, and I didn't want to worry my mother at 3 a.m."

Today, because victims like Green are speaking out, there's a rape crisis center in Orlando. But victims in many parts of Florida face numerous problems, including long waits to see a counselor and hospital personnel who don't know how to preserve evidence.

While other states fund rape crisis centers, Florida does not. Here, most rape crisis centers depend on federal money. Rape crisis centers recently got a letter advising them that they may get fewer federal dollars next year.

Some counties, such as Hillsborough, have locally funded rape crisis centers where victims can see a counselor right away, get examined, get a shower and fresh clothes.

It's a different story in many other counties, where rape crisis centers depend on federal dollars.

Pinellas County had more than 1,000 reported rapes last year but had just two rape counselors, while Hillsborough had fewer rapes but six counselors.

Maria Sanchez-Masi, who counsels rape victims at the Family Services Center in Pinellas, estimates there were nearly 4,000 rapes in Pinellas last year, though only 1,069 were reported. There simply aren't enough counselors to handle the load.

"We're really struggling, and it would be wonderful if we had funding to get more people," Sanchez-Masi said.

In Pasco County, victims who call for help might wait three weeks to see a counselor at Sunrise, a sexual assault crisis center, because the center has a bare-bones counseling staff. The center has one full-time and one-part time counselor. Pasco had 196 reported sexual assaults last year.

"We're trying to just give (victims) enough information to hang on, and that's all we can do," said Sunrise's chief operating officer, Penny Morrill.

In Hernando County, federal budget cuts in the coming year could leave the Dawn Center with just one part-time sexual assault counselor. Last year, 92 sexual assaults were reported in Hernando. And many more victims who don't report a rape still go to the center. One national study found that nearly a third of rape victims don't report the crime.

"We can't offer a very quick appointment if we've only got a counselor for 20 hours a week," said Stephanie Walley, director of the Dawn Center.

Victims need help right away, says Green, the rape survivor. "When you make that phone call to get help, that's when you need the help. Not two or three weeks later. Victims shouldn't have to wait."

Advocates for rape victims plan to ask the Legislature for $4-million to bolster the state's rape crisis centers and ensure that there's an advocate for rape victims in all 67 Florida counties.

They have enlisted Republican state Rep. Sandy Murman of Tampa and Republican state Sen. Anna Cowin of Leesburg.

Cowin says she plans to file a bill to help the rape crisis centers. But the money would come from an unusual source: convicted rapists. Judges would impose a $151 fee on every rapist, with $1 going to the court and $150 to help finance rape crisis centers.

That would be more likely to pass the Legislature in a tight budget year.

"The more affluent communities have been able to get leaders in the community to provide these centers," Cowin said. "But in other communities, victims don't have access to care and don't know where to go for help."

A woman who is raped in Baker and Nassau counties, for example, has to travel an hour to get examined at a hospital in Jacksonville. She can't rinse out her mouth, shower, or change clothes because evidence has to be preserved.

Advocates for rape victims say Cowin's proposed court fee won't be enough. Most rapists won't have the money to pay, and many don't get caught or convicted. Yet the victims keep coming.

"It means the rape has to be reported and it has to go to the state attorney, and there has to be a conviction. The 3,000 rapes in Pinellas County last year didn't end up like that, unfortunately," said Sanchez-Masi, the Pinellas rape crisis support worker.

Green said she will lobby lawmakers. It isn't her first foray into politics. Frustrated by the silence that surrounds sexual violence, Green founded a group called Speaking Out About Rape. Two years ago, she helped get a law passed that requires rapists and murderers to serve consecutive terms for multiple offenses.

When detectives finally found the man who raped Green, he was already in prison for another rape. He is still behind bars.

On the five-year anniversary of the attack, Green decided to do something brave: sky-dive for the very first time. She has done it every year since.

"Now," she says, "it's the day I go sky diving. It's no longer the day I was raped."

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk