DATE: Tuesday, May 13, 1997                 TAG: 9705130276

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  137 lines

COURT WILL DECIDE WHEN HEALING ENDS WOMAN SAYS HER UNCLE HASN'T PAID ENOUGH FOR ABUSING HER; HE SAYS HE HAS.

Jennifer White makes sure her bedroom door is locked each night. She checks her closet to make sure no one is there. She takes medicine that helps her fall asleep.

Otherwise, says the 23-year-old Chesapeake woman, she would lie awake for hours, a nighttime vigil she links to the sexual abuse committed by her uncle when she was a child.

The abuse has cost her plenty, she says. Innocence. Healthy relationships. Many a good night's sleep.

She believes her uncle, Gary P. Mason, owes her. Her uncle, a 37-year-old Chesapeake resident, believes he's paid enough.

Psychological injuries aren't like breaking a leg in a car accident. You can't always pinpoint a healing date. And it's sometimes difficult to separate out the cause of psychological problems and link them to specific events, which makes it hard to determine when a defendant has met the terms of any agreements to pay, leaving both parties feeling cheated.

In September 1993, Mason's five-year sentence for the abuse against White on one count of aggravated sexual battery and two counts of sodomy was suspended on the condition that he pay ``for psychological counseling for the victim in conjunction with these matters'' and receive treatment himself ``until released by his counselor.''

The agreement set no time limits on the treatment.

But Mason, after footing the bill for thousands of dollars of counseling, is questioning how much more he has to pay. He's taking the case back to court.

Mason's lawyer, Michael Fasanaro, says he believes his client has already paid more than he should. ``All of her counseling is not related to the event that Mr. Mason is responsible for,'' Fasanaro said. ``We need to get a judge to rule on what Mr. Mason is responsible for, whether it's some of it, or any of it at all.''

Plea agreements that involve restitution sometimes arise in abuse cases. Some victims want their assailants to serve prison time, and later sue them through civil court to force them to pay counseling fees, according to Daniel Armagh, director of the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse. Other abuse victims prefer having an assailant pay for counseling in a plea agreement, rather than push for a prison sentence that could delay the assailant's ability to pay for such counseling.

In order to determine whether White's therapy relates to Mason's actions against her, a June hearing has been set, and Mason's attorney has submitted a legal order to view what White considers private matters: her counseling records.

White considers the subpoena another violation by her uncle. ``He's already taken my innocence, and my childhood,'' White said. ``The only thing I had control over was my privacy. It's like he's going to walk around inside my head and look around. It completely rocks me.''

Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Shepherd Wainger says he doesn't object to the subpoena, because he believes both sides have issues to air before a judge.

While some restitution agreements place a time limit on counseling, this one didn't. ``It was open-ended,'' Wainger said. ``We didn't put limits on it, and we probably should have.''

Kent Willis, executive director of the state American Civil Liberties Union, said the terms of punishment for someone convicted of a crime should be as clear as possible. But when the punishment is designed to be rehabilitative, rather than punitive, the terms are sometimes less specific to make sure the purpose - in this case healing of the victim - is fulfilled. Still, Willis said, a defendant has a right to ask a judge to rule when that rehabilitation is complete.

Mason, who has had no contact with White since charges against him were first filed 10 years ago, refused to comment on the case, on the advice of his attorney.

He first pleaded guilty in 1988 to charges he abused White in Chesapeake. He received a six-year sentence for one count of aggravated sexual battery and one count of sodomy, of which he served two years. He was also ordered by the judge to seek treatment for himself, and to pay for his niece's counseling until she was 21 years old.

By the time the order was made, however, White had been diagnosed with leukemia, so her psychological treatment took a back seat to chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

But when she finished the medical treatment about two years later, she was ready to return to therapy for abuse-related problems she was having. By this time she was nearing 21, an age the counseling paid for by her uncle would run out.

So she decided to press charges against her uncle in Virginia Beach as well. In September of 1993, Mason pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual battery and two counts of forcible sodomy.

The terms of the Virginia Beach plea agreement were not as clearly defined as the Chesapeake sentence. The new terms might never have become an issue except that White decided to get serious about the counseling about a year and a half ago.

She began going to weekly sessions instead of the sporadic visits she used to make. In addition to a therapist, she's seen a psychiatrist, who prescribed medication.

She says she needs the therapy and medication because the abuse has caused her numerous problems: She has trouble forming relationships with men. She's afraid to go anywhere alone. At 23, she still lives with her mother and younger siblings. At night, she has to make sure her bedroom door is locked, her closet checked, and even then, she has trouble sleeping without medication.

``Sometimes I will smell a cologne like his and I'll look around and feel like a kid, like I want to run and hide.''

Nancy Brock, executive director of Response, an agency that assists victims of rape and sexual abuse, said victims of sexual abuse vary in the amount of time they need counseling.

But she said victims who have been abused over a long period usually face a rough road. And that even when they feel they are well enough to stop counseling, they often suffer relapses during key times of their lives, such as when their own children reach the age the victim suffered abuse.

``I can't imagine a counselor saying, `You're finished and you will never need to come again,' '' Brock said. Brock also said few victims seek counseling they don't need. ``There are precious few people who like counseling. It's difficult. Most people don't want to use it any longer than they have to. You want to throw the crutch away if you're healed.''

While subpoenas for counseling records of victims are often filed in cases like this, they're also often quashed by victims' attorneys. ``It can be devastating to the treatment of the victim,'' Brock said.

Sometimes, the records can be viewed only by a judge, or an expert witness, so as not to reveal confidential counseling matters in court.

In this case, Fasanaro has told Wainger that his client will not be allowed to see the records.

But it makes little difference to White.

``What I tell my therapist is like writing in a journal. I can say what I want without repercussions. Now it's information they have control over. They get to look at it and go through it and talk about it. I don't think it's fair.''

In the meantime, White has stopped seeing her counselor. White said Mason wants her to use her insurance for the therapy, and Mason would reimburse the co-payments. White opposes that idea.

``Why should I give up something I worked for to benefit him?'' said White, who now works as a receptionist for an electronic lock company. ``I don't feel like my company should be penalized because he doesn't feel like paying for it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by TAMARA VONINSKI/The Virginian-Pilot

Jennifer White, 23, says she still suffers from being molested as a

child. Her uncle has paid for years of counseling, and wants the

court to let him stop. KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT SEX ABUSE CHILD MOLESTER

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