Friends and family,

Please know where your children are and who they are with. Even if they are with a mentor associated with a kid-friendly organization….know your kids are safe. (Link below)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/mchenry_woodstock_huntley/chi-former-big-brothers-mentor-guilty-of-child-sex-abuse-20130530,0,7926618.story

I feel it is important that I add a bit more detail to this story, details that did not make it into the new story:

The grown men who came forward during the trial, knew their molester from the neighborhood where they all lived at one time, and for whatever reason actually lived with him for some time during the molestation. They only came to investigators after they saw a story two years ago that he had been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy. They were ashamed and scared to come forward earlier but felt they needed to come forward to stop Puccini from hurting other boys. After he molested them in the 1990s -and allegedly at least three more boys (one of which Puccini will face trial for) – he then went on to become a volunteer mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters. None of these boys ever told anyone about their abuse, so there was no record of the earlier abuse. So in Big Brothers Big Sisters defense, he had no criminal record for abuse. Also, I heard this mom of this current victim, the now 16-yr-old, has a civil case against the organization. Other details -not in the newspaper story- he groomed all these boys. Each of them was without a father figure in the home, he bought them gifts, took them on trips…The mom of the boy in this particular trial against Puccini, said that he was texting her son saying “Good morning, I love you” “Good night, remember, I love you” Her son became secretive during this time. Puccini also offered the mom $10,000 to let her son come and live with him…. Maybe this little add of information will protect someone out there. He was — and had done with the other victims years early — grooming them. He also would wrestle with the boy and the mom started feeling like it was inappropriate. So, this tells us to go with our gut moms! BTW Puccini was found guilty of sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 — ANGER FACTOR: this is a probational case or he could serve between 3 to 7 years in prison… BUT he does have to register as a sex offender. So at least we will know where he is living…..Until next time, love each other and keep your kids safe