BABScon releases official statement regarding "11 year old girl" incident

Photo: Fluttershy cosplayer in front of the SacAnime fan table.
For those of you who have been following the typical post-convention drama stream that has followed the end of BABScon, you know that some Tumblr user (and SacAnime table staffer) made a post regarding a supposed incident involving a young girl and a congoer of dubious intent. BABScon has now released an official statement regarding the incident, which, according the mother of said child  was "exaggerated" by the SacAnime fan table staffers, and that the family is not seeking to press charges on anyone. You can read the full statement below.




BABSCon’s Official Statement Regarding the Incident Reported by SacAnime Staffers
Recently, we at BABSCon have heard disturbing accounts of an incident involving a young girl at our convention. After the convention ended, it was reported via the tumblr of a fan table staffer for SacAnime that an 11-year-old girl approached the table in distress. According to the account, she said was trying to hide from an individual who was following her and asking to take her to his room. To clarify, BABSCon staff was not alerted to this situation as it was happening, and we were only told about the incident after the con. Nevertheless, we take this matter very seriously, and are investigating it to the best of our ability. There are elements of the story that remain unclear, but we are vigorously striving to determine the truth.
We are attempting to reach out to the parents of the child, and were recently contacted by parties claiming to be her parents. They contend that the incident was exaggerated by the SacAnime fan table staffers’ descriptions as published on Tumblr, but we are attempting to verify these claims. We have also been collecting statements from SacAnime staff who witnessed the event.
Unfortunately, at this point, no one with the necessary legal standing— such as the girl’s parents or the SacAnime staffers— is willing to press charges. Consequently, we have no means by which to initiate police action or acquire a subpoena to compel the venue to release their security footage.
If you have any information at all about this incident, such as the identity or a description of the perpetrator, please email us at report@babscon.com. We are very eager to hear from you and anonymous tips are welcome.
BABSCon understands that the opinions and actions of the volunteers representing SacAnime during BABSCon were those of the specific individuals in question, and not that of SacAnime as an organization. Because the issue has been raised elsewhere, we want to make clear our position on any further connection between SacAnime and BABSCon. We strongly believe that the individual SacAnime representatives’ failure to report the incident was irresponsible and could have lead to further endangerment of the child. We also firmly reject SacAnime Director Dan Houck’s stance, quoted from an email to us:
“The girls [sic] parents were informed of the situation. Shouldn’t it ultimately be their responsibility? My staff members helped the girl and notified her parents, who were at the con.”
The correct thing to do would have been to notify any of the numerous nearby BABSCon staff, the representatives of FLARE in attendance, or the Hotel’s Security or Staff. As we have stated before, both our Registration table and Info Desk were mere feet away from the fan table. SacAnime staff, who had eyes on the stalker in question, could have given us a description of the individual, which could have have helped us eject him from the con and remand him into police custody. Since they did not, BABSCon will require a mandatory training session for all those who wish to have fan tables in the future with BABSCon. This will ensure that in the future, such incidents are reported properly and promptly.
BABSCon has never said that any SacAnime staff are banned from attending our convention— and they are not— though we would have strong reservations about giving SacAnime another fan table. Their failure to report a potential crime in progress, and their Director’s statement that his team acted appropriately, give us pause to say the least. While we are grateful that they took action in protecting this child and have stated that they tried to have a staff member follow her wherever she went, this simply wasn’t enough. This incident should have been brought to the attention of BABSCon staff, who would in turn have notified the authorities.
If SacAnime is willing to participate in our training session for vendors and fan table staffers, we might reconsider offering them a fan table in the future. But if not, we have no place for anyone who will not report crimes they witness, or help ensure that those who would do our children harm are handled by the appropriate authorities.
We apologize for any confusion.
BABSCon strives to provide a happy and safe environment for convention-goers of all ages. Rest assured that, should we find the perpetrator, he will be promptly reported to the police and banned from all of our future events. The sort of behavior that has been reported is illegal, immoral, dangerous, and runs contrary to the spirit of our community. We ask for your assistance in tracking down this individual, and hope to see you next year in San Francisco!
In service to the Community,
Sonya Hipper - Con Chair, BABSCon 2014
Olivia Daniels - Con Vice Chair, BABSCon 2014
WeAreBorg - Head of Public Relations, BABSCon 2014


A Communiqué From Her Mother
We received the following email at report@babscon.com from the young girl’s mother. Our first feeling was a massive sense of relief that it appears no lingering damage was done, and that a serious talk about stranger danger was had. But, we’d still like to know who the creeper was so we can make sure he never attends another BABSCon.
Let us reiterate, there is ZERO tolerance for this man’s behavior at BABSCon!
We’ve removed all names to protect this family’s privacy.
From: [REDACTED]
To: report@babscon.com
Re: Incident at babsconsf
Hi, I am [REDACTED]’s mom.  To be clear, I was never informed about any kind of incident involving my daughter while at babsconsf.  When we arrived at the con. I told my daughter to be aware that there were lots of strangers and to stay with my almost 16 yo grandson when not with my adult daughter or myself.   My adult daughter and myself have some physical disabilities so it was a challenge to keep up with the kids.
I was in the lobby while the kids were checking out the different rooms and such.  This was the first time any of us attended something like this.  On Saturday, [REDACTED] and I stopped by the sacanime table to get her button made I had spoken to the vendors for a while and the lobby wasn’t busy at the time so I left her there while I went to find my grandson.  When I came back to collect her and pay for the button, she and the vendors were fast friends. They were nice young people and my daughter wanted to hang out and talk about anime.
I don’t usually give her so much freedom, but I felt like she was fine with my grandson nearby, the Sacanime group in the lobby, and with me checking up with her every hour or so.   Some time on Sunday she was in the arcade by herself when she was approached by a man who asked her if she would go to his room with him and help him pack.  She had seen him in the vendors rooms and he had made her uncomfortable, she told him no and he just walked away.  She was scared then and went to the Sacanime table and asked them to let her hang out with them, she didn’t want to tell me because I wouldn’t let her out on her own any more. 
I was at the table several times that day and no one said anything to me about all this. I definitely would have contacted security and tried to find this guy.   My daughter exaggerated about the elevator, he never put a hand on her, and she was never alone with him.  She was on a very crowded elevator with him at the front and her way in the back.
We have had a serious discussion about all this and the importance of not exaggerating, and not hiding this kind of thing from mom or security. 
We loved our time at babsconsf, and the safety we felt is probably why I let my gaurd down.   We all learned a lesson.  Sorry the original poster went on an anti brony rant, it was not deserved.  With the hundreds of people in attendance this was a slight incident.
My best to you and yours
[REDACTED] 

Comments (37)

  1. No one do business with SacAnime anymore.

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    1. Why not? Sounds to me that both cons are trying to cover their asses by pointing the finger at one another. SacAnime has been around longer than BABScon, and to be honest, BABScon panicked when a situation like this arose. SacAnime did all they could, in my opinion. And what it looks to me, in my opinion, is that BABScon is pulling a DHS under Janet Napolitano. They want everyone up everybody's ass, because there's now, YET AGAIN, the hysteria that there's a pedophile now hiding behind every single corner, and it seems that BABScon is encouraging congoers to act like a bunch of goddamn vigilantes. This is a slippery slope what's going on here.

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    2. "SACAnime did all they could"
      Oh please,they did nothing essentially. Had they gone to the proper people to deal with the situation this would have been taken care of. But to go as far to say that SACanime did all they could in this situation is asinine.

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    3. Are you suggesting, then, that everyone should be in everybody's business and start stalking everybody because they could be a potential pedophile hiding in every corner of the convention? Are you suggesting we all become vigilantes?

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    4. The little girl confirmed his identity to them, he stood in plain sight mere FEET from them and they STILL haven't ratted his ass out yet. When the situation serves you up a pedophile on a silver platter like that, you're not being a vigilante stalker for doing something, YOU ARE BEING AN ADULT FOR SOMEONE WHO NEEDS ONE, not to mention being a well-adjusted member of society.
      SacAnime did NOT do everything it could, and it STILL isn't doing everything it could because someone on their staff is withholding evidence and actively protecting a pedophile. AN SJW IS COVERING FOR A PEDOPHILE. And since it appears that SacAnime Director Dan Houck is more than okay with this, we can't really know what kind of weird shit people are doing in that organization because of it's actively hands-off approach to crimes of this nature now can we? This woman unjustly started (or continued if you consider the SJW streak) a witch hunt against bronies, I say we let them know what it feels like to have something like that thrown right back in their faces.

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    5. Very well. This does raise a lot of valid points.

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    6. Not that anon that gave the last reply but essentially what the posted is all that needs to be said when it comes to them "doing all they could". Made no sense for the cosplayer who made the post about this to prattle on about making things safe for children all the while they just let the guy just stand there for the remainder of the con and not report him so he could be removed.

      Don't play that game and even begin to justify their actions as proper because they weren't.

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    7. Even if this was true I'm really shocked that despite the hotel having a bunch of cameras or anything of the sort didn't result in this guy getting caught.

      I think the SacAnime staff might have been working with the creep in order to keep the girl near them.

      I read the stuff that the SacAnime staff said calling the girl "baby" or whatever it was the stuff they described with interactions is creepy.

      Also supposedly she was even a hotel room with other sacanime staff at times too mostly males in the room. So I am confused that was not mentioned.

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  2. I thought everyone knew by now this was total bullshit.

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    1. We know it's probably an over blown story made up by some attention whores, but due to it's status right now and some annoying fuck who comments on almost all Babscon articles about us "not covering it" it needed to be addressed.

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    2. I thought it was -- I'm surprised there was an actual child and an actual parent to contact. I'm even more surprised that there was an initial incident to exaggerate.

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    3. Though the story is almost certainly not true, it should still be covered until it's completely verified. There's literally no reason not to.

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    4. Verified Untrue BY SOMEONE WHO WAS RIGHT NEXT TO THE FUCKING TABLE http://hbreckel.tumblr.com/post/83544750526/that-brony-con-horror-story-was-fabricated

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  3. Whether the story was bullshit or not, this is pretty much the perfect response to the whole situation.

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    1. I agree. Major kudos to BABScon staff.

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  4. The way I see it, since they weren't willing to give descriptions of the guy, this lady has two options:

    Admit she is a liar.
    or
    Go down in history as the first SJW to be actively protecting a potential pedophile.

    And since her anonymity has been compromised, I don't think slipping into the shadows is an option.

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    1. Remember everyone you can anonymously report her to the FBI for refusing to press the issue and get the surveillance sent to the police. As you stated, she is actively protecting a pedophile.

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    2. >And since her anonymity has been compromised
      As she, though?

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  5. For the last time, didn't we all figure out that this was some bullshit cooked up by April Davis herself?

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    1. No,that's dumb. This person is completely unaffiliated with her. Nonetheless good official statement by BABScon though as one anon said the person who put this out there is in an unwinnable situation because of the actions they took.

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    2. Duly noted. By the way, why is it that my hometown of Sacramento makes news like this, national or otherwise, it's ALWAYS negative(think fire department scandal)?

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    3. Because you're the political center of the largest by population and one of the most corrupt states in the United States. You guys are just lucky the media is too busy worrying about missing planes to report on your supervillan State Senator Leland Yee.

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    4. The only bullshit April is up to lately was having a hand in trying to get someone's husband deported all because they disagreed with her over that retarded DWM crap.

      One person got nailed for it and in their testimony brought up that April did provide some info in trying to make it happen, so we may see the pain in the ass get served some legal justice in the coming months.

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    5. I already said duly noted. Are you blind?

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  6. Where the fuck was this girl's parents? Why was she being allowed to walk alone in the convention by herself? And what's more, why is everyone chewing out SacAnime? If something did happen to that girl, Dan Houck would have felt horrible, but NOT RESPONSIBLE! Shame on all of YOU, the brony community, and shame on BABScons staff for putting the failing of this girl's parents. It doesn't take a village to raise a child, you fucking idiots! Actually, it's not so much that it takes a village to raise a child, it's more like the village is failing ME. No account for personal responsibility on the parents whatsoever.

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    1. We're chewing out SacAnime because they claimed the pedophile LITERALLY CAME UP TO THEIR TABLE AND BROWSED THEIR STUFF.

      And they did NOTHING. NOTHING TO HELP PUT A POTENTIAL PEDOPHILE BEHIND BARS.

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    2. Are you sure that is what they claimed? Do you have any proof of that? From what I understand, he never was even at their table. Again, I say HOW DARE YOU place the failing of this girls' parents on the SacAnime staff. Of course, no amount of logic or reason ever derails an irrational train. After all, when you have a nation of reactionary idiots who eschew facts, logic and reason, you’re going to have a nation of totally illogical, fantasy driven protests and policies.

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    3. If you have the opportunity presented to yourself (i.e. having the girl finger the alleged potential predator) and there's more than one person running the booth- it is YOUR responsibility as a law-abiding ADULT to go to any one of the A) safety team B) Babscon staff/security C) Hotel staff or D) phone the authorities. ESPECIALLY if the girls' parent or guardian is not present.
      Waiting until WELL-AFTER the con has ended to shame an entire group of people just because one man was being a creeper and letting this one man GO FREE to potentially HARM ANOTHER CHILD is massively irresponsible.

      Not only do I hope they catch this guy before he can do something terrible to someone else's kid, but I hope the SACanime staffers present and aware of the situation get punished to the full extent of the law in failing to report endangerment of a minor. Letting this man walk free while waiting to lump him in with an entire group they don't like (for no explicable reason other than "ew nasty boys taking away a show from the clutches of little girls" -newsflash: except for ONE convention, the My Little Pony Fair, almost every single MLP convention is created by adult fans catering to adult fans. While young fans are welcome and given privileges, they never have been or will be the focus of these glorified meetups.)

      So yes- shame on the girl's parent or guardian for failing to follow con rules (anyone under the age of 16 MUST be accompanied by a parent or guardian AT ALL TIMES). I don't care if her mother and older sister was a crippled vegetable in a wheelchair (they usually have fast-passes and such for those kinds of unable-to-get-around-in-a-crowd-easily types), the girl should have stuck to her mother, sister or brother like glue and not be unaccompanied at ANY point.
      But shame on this SACanime staffer(s) for letting a predator go free to potentially harm someone else's child, all to try and make all adult fans look like creepy pedophiles with an anti-brony tumblrina SJW post.

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    4. http://takashi0.tumblr.com/post/83559656316/babscon-staff-have-verified-that-the
      yes, it IS Illegal to not report such a thing, or it would be IF IT HAD EVEN REALLY HAPPENED
      http://hbreckel.tumblr.com/post/83544750526/that-brony-con-horror-story-was-fabricated

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  7. Ok, let me get this right. A child's parents neglected to be a parent at a convention? Surprise surprise. The stalker was at BabsCon NOT SacAnime. Let's not loose track on this. If I was BabsCon and royally screwed up with a scandal of this nature happening at their 1st time event, I'd be putting a spin on the story and push the blame on someone else too. Well, ok, I wouldn't but I guess they are. The type of negative publicity they can get from fans labeling Bronie Conventions as breeding grounds for pedophiles is huge. Guess as an inexperienced 1st time Con, BabsCon is back peddling fierce. Oh, and lest we forget to mention, members of the SacAnime staff were there to RUN A BOOTH. Have you ever ran a booth/table at a con? You have hundreds if not thousands of fans swinging by asking questions and vying for your attention. Another thing, the actions of one staffer does not speak for a con of thousands that run it. This whole debacle is wack and blown out of epic proportions. The story's keep on changing even from the 11 year old girl. She's not harmed and everyone is ok. Yes, BabsCon now has to worry about a potential stalker pedophile at their next con. But guess what, maybe they should have more attentive staff? They were right in front of the incident apparently if their staff was across from the SacAnime booth. Argh!

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    1. SACAnime shill pls go.

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    2. >SACAnime shill pls go

      Sounds like anon's more biased than a CNN reporter.

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    3. Sounds like other anon is making excuses for the SJW and SacAnime when responsibility ultimately rests with them for failing to report it. I don't see how BABScon's staff were supposed to intuitively know that the guy was a pedophile and that the girl was being stalked just because they're in viewing distance. Being visible and being within earshot are two totally different things.

      At the very least, even if BABScon DO monitor all the conversations held at all booths with psychic powers or a directional microphone, and ARE somehow at fault, it doesn't make what SacAnime did any less irresponsible or reprehensible.

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    4. SacAnime isn't responsible for shit. SacAnime didn't make up an obvious bullshit story, then had its friend lie to its boss when people started talking about legal reprocussions, and THEN supposedly posed as the parents of this kid who OBVIOUS DOES NOT MOTHERFUCKING EXIST. Saintchesire is the one and only person to blame here.

      And fuck BABSCon! Those little cocksuckers are throwing SacAnime under the bus to save their asses when this story is all but proven to be total bullshit. They even blatantly copy/pasted something from a Daily Dot article that's 99% likely to be total bullshit because it was contradicted a day after Saintchesire posted that story.

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    5. Jesus H Christ. Say an 11 year old girl approaches you and asks you to hide her because a man wanted to take her up to his room.

      Then she points the guy out, and you see hem clearly wandering the venue abd looking for more chiddrens.

      How in the blue blazes do you just stand there and do nothing?

      Holy crap, holy crap.

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    6. Maybe they should ACTUALLY LISTEN TO SOMEONE WHO WAS RIGHT NEXT TO THE FUCKING TABLE http://hbreckel.tumblr.com/post/83544750526/that-brony-con-horror-story-was-fabricated

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