Justice for the Roberson Peréa family & their son
Donation protected
This GoFundMe is being set up for Flavia Peréa, her husband, Sean Roberson, and their family.
On Nov 12, 2019, Flavia and Sean’s 6 year-old son was reported to the police by the Somerville, MA public schools. He was in first grade. He now has a police record. The story was in the Boston Globe on Feb. 20, 2021, and was featured on Good Morning America on Feb. 22, 2021. [Read more about their story below.] Having been unsuccessful to resolve the situation with the school district or to have their son’s police record expunged, the family is pursuing all legal options to get justice for their son, while advocating for systemic change so no other child or family has to go through what they are experiencing.
Funds will help cover costs associated with legal fees, expungement of law enforcement, child welfare, and school conduct records, as well as for mental health resources. To date the family has already incurred approximately $6,000 in legal expenses. Moving forward, legal expenses, as well as school and public records requests are estimated to cost at least an additional $10,000 in the short term. Litigating the case in court the family could incur tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and court costs.
As a community, we want to help this family fight the systems that are working against them. If you would like to learn more about their personal story, please visit Architecture of Injustice , the website they created to tell their story.
“What happened to my son is an act of violence. It is part of a long history of false allegations against Black and Brown men and boys.”
"The harm the schools and police inflicted on my son is inexcusable and has the potential to follow him for the rest of his life. That giving our son The Talk must also include going to school while Black- going to the cubbies while Black- has been a painful realization."
“I want my son’s police record expunged. I want the people who did this to him held accountable."
100% of the funds raised will go to Flavia, Sean, and their family. Any donation amount is greatly appreciated. For those who cannot donate, please consider sharing this story and GoFundMe page with your friends, families, and colleagues.
Please help support this family’s fight to correct the violent injustice done to their son.
Thank you so much for your kindness and support.
__________________________________________________________________________
An incident
On, November 12, 2019, our six-year-old son was in the cubby area of his first-grade classroom at the Argenziano School in Somerville, MA. He was in the cubby area putting away his things with a classmate. The children were alone in the cubbies, unsupervised by a teacher.
Our son, J, was good friends with this classmate, a girl he frequently played with. They were friends who had been in class together since Kindergarten. They liked to chase each other in the playground. They were happy to see each other in the morning and would often walk into the building together. They gave each other hugs, would hold hands, draw pictures and write notes to each other. It was very sweet.
As is often the case with very young children, J and his friend were fooling around that morning in the cubby area. The children were unsupervised. The classroom teacher later told us that J’s friend said “[J] touched my bum” and pointed to her rear-end. When school administration contacted us, they said J had “touched” the girl on her “private parts.” The language used by school administration and local authorities to describe what allegedly happened continuously changed and more serious, criminal language was used.
No one saw what happened. J is Black and Latino, the girl is white.
No one spoke to J about what might have happened.
The first thing the school did was report J to the Somerville Police Department alleging he committed sexual assault. A detective went to the school- unbeknownst to us; the school did not tell us they had contacted law enforcement. The detective told us J allegedly "grabbed" the girl, which was "indecent assault and battery."
The police wrote and filed a police report on J and referred the case to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office. The local police have a police report on J which they refuse to release to us by invoking a Massachusetts victim’s rights law intended to protect victims from violent sexual offenders. The Somerville Police Department is treating J as they would a rapist. The police department has repeatedly refused to provide us with the police report, most recently on March 12, 2021.
In the state of Massachusetts, children under the age of 12 cannot be charged with a crime. The Somerville Police Department nevertheless maintains a police record on J.
At the same time school administrators reported J to the police, they reported him to state child welfare authorities alleging he sexually abused his peer. Although the report was screened out, a referral was made to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office for alleged sexual assault.
The Somerville school district continues to assert their actions were appropriate, and claim they bear no responsibility for criminalizing J and bringing law enforcement into his life at the age of 6.
For over 16 months we have attempted to resolve the situation and expunge our son’s record through the Somerville, MA Schools School Committee, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. None of these entities have been able to help us get justice for our son. None of these agencies conducted an investigation to understand what went wrong and to prevent it from happening again.
Flavia published an open letter to the Mayor of Somerville in the Boston Globe on March 4, 2021, but the Mayor has remained silent on the issue as have elected city officials.
Our son has a police record that could leave lifelong emotional scars and could impact him for the rest of his life. It has deeply traumatized our family.
Our son is a victim.
On Nov 12, 2019, Flavia and Sean’s 6 year-old son was reported to the police by the Somerville, MA public schools. He was in first grade. He now has a police record. The story was in the Boston Globe on Feb. 20, 2021, and was featured on Good Morning America on Feb. 22, 2021. [Read more about their story below.] Having been unsuccessful to resolve the situation with the school district or to have their son’s police record expunged, the family is pursuing all legal options to get justice for their son, while advocating for systemic change so no other child or family has to go through what they are experiencing.
Funds will help cover costs associated with legal fees, expungement of law enforcement, child welfare, and school conduct records, as well as for mental health resources. To date the family has already incurred approximately $6,000 in legal expenses. Moving forward, legal expenses, as well as school and public records requests are estimated to cost at least an additional $10,000 in the short term. Litigating the case in court the family could incur tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and court costs.
As a community, we want to help this family fight the systems that are working against them. If you would like to learn more about their personal story, please visit Architecture of Injustice , the website they created to tell their story.
“What happened to my son is an act of violence. It is part of a long history of false allegations against Black and Brown men and boys.”
"The harm the schools and police inflicted on my son is inexcusable and has the potential to follow him for the rest of his life. That giving our son The Talk must also include going to school while Black- going to the cubbies while Black- has been a painful realization."
“I want my son’s police record expunged. I want the people who did this to him held accountable."
100% of the funds raised will go to Flavia, Sean, and their family. Any donation amount is greatly appreciated. For those who cannot donate, please consider sharing this story and GoFundMe page with your friends, families, and colleagues.
Please help support this family’s fight to correct the violent injustice done to their son.
Thank you so much for your kindness and support.
__________________________________________________________________________
An incident
On, November 12, 2019, our six-year-old son was in the cubby area of his first-grade classroom at the Argenziano School in Somerville, MA. He was in the cubby area putting away his things with a classmate. The children were alone in the cubbies, unsupervised by a teacher.
Our son, J, was good friends with this classmate, a girl he frequently played with. They were friends who had been in class together since Kindergarten. They liked to chase each other in the playground. They were happy to see each other in the morning and would often walk into the building together. They gave each other hugs, would hold hands, draw pictures and write notes to each other. It was very sweet.
As is often the case with very young children, J and his friend were fooling around that morning in the cubby area. The children were unsupervised. The classroom teacher later told us that J’s friend said “[J] touched my bum” and pointed to her rear-end. When school administration contacted us, they said J had “touched” the girl on her “private parts.” The language used by school administration and local authorities to describe what allegedly happened continuously changed and more serious, criminal language was used.
No one saw what happened. J is Black and Latino, the girl is white.
No one spoke to J about what might have happened.
The first thing the school did was report J to the Somerville Police Department alleging he committed sexual assault. A detective went to the school- unbeknownst to us; the school did not tell us they had contacted law enforcement. The detective told us J allegedly "grabbed" the girl, which was "indecent assault and battery."
The police wrote and filed a police report on J and referred the case to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office. The local police have a police report on J which they refuse to release to us by invoking a Massachusetts victim’s rights law intended to protect victims from violent sexual offenders. The Somerville Police Department is treating J as they would a rapist. The police department has repeatedly refused to provide us with the police report, most recently on March 12, 2021.
In the state of Massachusetts, children under the age of 12 cannot be charged with a crime. The Somerville Police Department nevertheless maintains a police record on J.
At the same time school administrators reported J to the police, they reported him to state child welfare authorities alleging he sexually abused his peer. Although the report was screened out, a referral was made to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office for alleged sexual assault.
The Somerville school district continues to assert their actions were appropriate, and claim they bear no responsibility for criminalizing J and bringing law enforcement into his life at the age of 6.
For over 16 months we have attempted to resolve the situation and expunge our son’s record through the Somerville, MA Schools School Committee, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. None of these entities have been able to help us get justice for our son. None of these agencies conducted an investigation to understand what went wrong and to prevent it from happening again.
Flavia published an open letter to the Mayor of Somerville in the Boston Globe on March 4, 2021, but the Mayor has remained silent on the issue as have elected city officials.
Our son has a police record that could leave lifelong emotional scars and could impact him for the rest of his life. It has deeply traumatized our family.
Our son is a victim.
Organizer and beneficiary
P W
Organizer
Somerville, MA
Flavia Perea
Beneficiary