Overview

Eric Schneider was one of the young victims in the notorious Boy Scout sexual abuse case that rocked Boston in the mid-1980s. Once news of the abuse became known, the public rallied around the pedophile scoutmaster who committed the rapes and protested in the streets for his release. When he pleaded guilty to the rapes, the Boy Scout organization offered no help to the victims. The public became oddly silent and turned away from the victims, most of whom committed suicide. It was big news at the time, but not until now have we heard from a survivor of that abuse Never has there been a more riveting look at the long-term psychological effects of childhood sex abuse. It is one of the most thorough first-person case studies every done on a victim of childhood sex abuse and it offers valuable information about how to approach and treat sex abuse victims. By his teens, Eric was a drug dealer, arsonist, and small-time thief. By the age of twenty, he was a major crime figure. He specialized in armed robberies, with a focus on banks and armored cars transporting large sums of cash. He struck back at the community that turned its back on him with a vengeance. Faced with over 200 years in prison, Schneider testified for the prosecution, sending his partners in crime to prison. He was given a new identity by the Massachusetts Witness Protection Program and he has lived in obscurity since the early 1990s. When his book is published, he will emerge from the safety of witness protection to promote the book. Schneider will take you on a journey that will expose you to some of the most frightening accounts of human depravity imaginable, regarding both sex abuse and organized crime. A lifetime struggle with addictions to cocaine and alcohol complicate the story, with riveting accounts of his attempts at rehabilitation. At the core of his store is the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that developed as a result of his abuse. The Choir Boy is the inspirational story of a sexual abuse survivor who has been to hell and back, yet still has hope for the future. It is the author's hope that his story will help others who have suffered childhood abuse-and help the parents of children at risk of becoming victims of sexual abuse. REVIEW Eric Schneider's chronicle of a lifetime of struggles with his criminal past and various addictions pulls the readers into a world they hopefully will never have to experience. His meticulously written and painstakingly detailed account of a life that appeared to be ruined on several occasions offers hope to those who have lost all hope. Schneider never had a chance at childhood. In the 1980s, he was repeatedly raped - for years - by his Boy Scout leader, a trusted member of his Boston community. Like so many sexual abuse victims, Schneider kept his nightmares a secret, and when the pedophile ring was finally uncovered, he was offered no help or treatment. At times it seemed as if his community was more interested in protecting the pedophile than protecting his victims ... On the other side of his harrowing and sad tales of life as a criminal, the book slowly unfolds as a beacon of hope as he finally finds love, recovers his faith and his profession and now treads a straight path toward personal redemption by helping those who suffered similar childhood trauma. When you begin reading The Choir Boy dig in and hang on. It's a frightening journey that eventually shows there can indeed be a light at the end of life's darkest tunnels. -Brown Burnett, The Clarion-Ledger.

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