Phillip Distasio

[Justine Cooper]

So the man murdered was by a friend of this guy's? When was that then? I hope you guys are writing a book since the media got it wrong! The proceeds could go to sex abuse victims locally The media you quoted said he tutored kids from a Pep school at home but that is against the rules. Is that true do you know? This is beyond sick that it happened right here and so often. You have the be the worst kind of animal to prey on kids that can't even communicate. It is unimaginable. This is one of the first questions I am going to ask God when I meet him (or her). I get free will but what about the free will of the victims.

[Justine Cooper]

One last comment. I am not sure who all played in catching him except I know Dan, Ken and Jim played a big part. If you three did nothing else with your life (which we know is not true) then this one thing is more than enough. You can sleep at night knowing that you stopped someone who ruined children's lives and worse. So when you get all the haters making comments to you, at least at the end of the day you can rest knowing you did good, and the ones that have anger will always have anger, with or without you.

[dl meckes]

So the man murdered was by a friend of this guy's? When was that then?... ...The media you quoted said he tutored kids from a Pep school at home but that is against the rules. Is that true do you know?

The murder was not local, it happened in Kentucky. DiStasio's then flat mate killed the young man. That happened before he came to Rocky River. (http://www.thelouisvillechannel.com/lou ... 50506.html)

I do not know that it is true that DiStasio tutored PEP kids at his Rocky River (not Lakewood) apartment.

He was starting his own "alternative" school at that point, and that may have confused things.

[Jim O'Bryan]

s for the murder, a friend of his lured a young man to Kentucky, and offered to pay for his schooling. The young man accepted the offer and was taken advantage of. There was a weird relationship between the three, but when the young man wanted to break away from his benefactor, the benefactor murdered him. DiStasio was part of the triangle, but he didn't murder the young man.

Phil

Was able to go blow, by blow, the blood spray in the room, what was said, and on and on and on. That fateful night in 15 minutes we knew we had a pedophile, within 30 a serial pedophile, and the 1 hour mark at the counter Calhoun and I added murderer.

The wrecking crew that week was Dan Slife, Ken Warren, Steve Calhoun, and myself, while back at home was DL, finding and sorting through hundreds of pages of information and telling us what we needed to know, to do the drill down.

What always amazes me was how many he fooled.

Justine

Been some talk, about a book. Michael Gill of the FreeTimes, spent time with him after the arrest. not sure we have the stomach for it.

While we have proof that all the media screwed this story big. Not the Observer catching him part. But every fact was wrong, and none of the dug as far as we did. Had they!!!!!

It was a real lesson.

happy ending, thank god.

peace

[dl meckes]

Assistant County Prosecutor Brendan Sheehan's life changed with that case. He has gone on to specialize in hunting internet predators. It makes a difference.

Phil had a wide circle of "pals" from all over the country. Most of them are still out there.

[Justine Cooper]

Wow! So you all should be proud. One evil person can destroy hundreds or thousands of lives. Isn't it "funny" that this wasn't in the PD yesterday?When was his sentencing? I am also shocked that Pep has stayed out of the news on this one. Weird. He did come across as very mild and I only met him twice but wouldn't have guessed. However some of these bigger institutions that he worked for I wonder how he got away with all of that. And what parent lets some hippie looking guy with no real credentials "tutor" their child at his home and then not know he is taking them all around to drink? Where were those parents I wonder. Weird.

[dl meckes]

DiStasio was sentenced Mon Oct 16, 2006.

The reason this came up in Columbus was that a reporter there evidently went though some of his journals.

This would be no easy task. DiStasio never shut up.

This was an accomplished con man who knew his prey. Parents that dealt with him did their best due diligence - I would not fault them for making a mistake. Phil had a long history of good (seeming) credentials and he had no criminal background. He made himself seem ok. He met with and was questioned by parents (according to what I have heard) about his Class Cutters program multiple times.

The problem with being taken in by a professional con man is that they know how to push all the right buttons all the time. Phil also chose his victims with great care, so behavioral changes could have been explained by any number of things. Phil was a pro.

Phil's background and work history was pretty solid. As I understand it, he had good references.

Phil struggled with the notion of hiding his predatory nature. He talked about that with like-minded child molesters on the net. It was Phil's inability to shut up that cost him his freedom, although he professed that he never hurt anyone and loved the kids.

But please don't be hard on the parents. They believed they were doing the best for their kids. They had no reason to suspect that they were being conned. We now know a lot of things that were not known at the time.

Don't forget that a lot of people thought Phil was a smart, cool, entertaining, alternative, anti-establishment kind of guy.

[Justine Cooper]

I know I retract that. I just can't imagine leaving my child with someone. I rarely use sitters too I guess I have become paranoid like that. I met him twice and had no idea and I also know how con men work!!!