CONTENT WARNING: CONTAINS REFERENCES TO SEXUAL VIOLENCE 


Hi all, My name is Tom. I'm really nervous about this petition because it means broadcasting something bad that happened to me. But as an autistic person, I have an extremely strong sense of right and wrong, of justice. I'm also a Certified Internal Auditor. And one of the tenets of our license is to hold the safety and well-being of the public paramount above all else. To that end, I must create this petition. In July 2023, I was raped, in my own home. The police refused to charge my attacker, despite extensive evidence, a painful reality for so many of  us. It destroyed me as a person. While on medical leave for rape, I lost my job. But then I was offered a lifeline -- the California Victims Fund, administered by the California Victims Compensation Board (Cal VCB). A one time payment of $70,000 for all my medical expenses and lost income. I applied in April 2024, was approved, and then got a strange letter in July 2024. They somehow calculated, that I actually was $51k richer for having been on medical leave. As someone with a Master of Data Science and an auditor, I knew this didn't make sense. Although I had disability insurance, I only got 80% of my paychecks; I was losing between $1,200 to $1,600 a month, and my first week of medical leave was entirely unpaid!

Because I have autism, PTSD, hearing processing delays & memory, on top of ADHD, I asked that all communications of this be done over email or similar electronic writing. Time and time again, the California Victims Fund refused. Not only is this suspicious from an audit background (as refusing to put something in writing is a classic sign of wanting to prevent evidence), in my case it was also a violation of the federal law known as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the California state equivalent (California Disabled Persons Act).  Upon filing a grievance, not only did the California Victims Fund refuse to correct a blatant error, in violation of their legal duties, but intentionally retaliated against me and said I would be forced to wait over a year. In fact, they made my attorney at the time refile valid paperwork 4 times. My state senator Ben Allen's office, Connor, even contacted the victims fund to confirm my unemployment as proof of sustained income loss. They told him they refused to incorporate the information, even though Connor himself helped me get unemployment after an administrative error with the unemployment office and my prior employer. Connor described the experience as "bizarre" but claimed there was nothing he could.


I did some further digging. This isn't the first time the California Victims Fund has operated improperly or illegally. The California State Auditor's own records show audits dating back 2008. Year after year, the status shows suggestions/recommendations not fully implemented. And then in 2020, the California Victims Fund was audited by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) and the Office of Inspector General (OIG). The DOJ found once again numerous instances of basic calculation errors, lack of internal controls, and 23% of the time, didn't pay out victims within the required 90 day limit as required by state law. And most recently, the California Victims Fund just lost in court. Why? Because they were illegally telling survivors of violence like me that we aren't allowed to appeal them in person. Once again, the California Victims Fund blatantly broke the law; a judge even said so and ordered this reversed.  In short, there's a California government agency acting like your stereotypical crooked insurance company rather than a government agency dedicated to improving the lives of survivors of violence. The California Victims Fund and the California Victims Compensation Board is in essence re-victimizing us all over again. I have contacted my assembly person Rick Chavez Zbur, my state Senator Ben Allen again, notified the California State Auditors office, the California Civil Rights Department, State Attorney General Rob Bonta, and have personally emailed and written and called Governor Gavin Newsom several times. They are all collectively refusing to investigate. If you are reading this petition, I am begging you -- please help survivors of violence like me. Thousands of us are being told we must wait over a year just to be heard on appeal, appeals the California Victims Fund intentionally created by design by intentionally rejected or screwing up applications to avoid payment.  Please sign this petition, share it with everyone you know, and contact your federal politicians, given the Victims Fund receives federal funding, Congress has explicit legal authority to investigate the manner under the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA).  And lastly, to any other survivor of violence, or misconduct by the crooked California Government agency that calls itself the California Victims Fund -- it's never your fault, it's never OK, and getting help is the bravest thing you can ever do. "Either we break the pattern or the pattern breaks us." - It Ends with Us