'I’m a dirty old man': Marine recruiter who used to counsel sexual assault victims accused of raping 16-year-old girl

A New York Marine recruiter who used to work as an advocate and counselor for sexual assault victims has been accused of "grooming" a 16-year-old girl into having sex with him earlier this year.

Last October, Staff Sgt. Mason H. Wallace, 28, who used to work as a sexual assault prevention and response victim advocate for the Marines, was working as a recruiter at Longwood High School in Suffolk County on Long Island. There, the Marine met a 16-year-old girl and began corresponding with her via text message about possibly joining the Corps, a report from the New York Post claimed.

While initially professional in nature, their correspondence eventually turned casual, and the two chatted about their mutual love of video games. By December, the unnamed girl had disclosed to him that she had a crush on him, and the victim's mother claimed that Wallace then encouraged the girl's attraction.

"Instead of being a decent human being and reporting this to the school guidance counselor or her parents," the woman said, "he told her he was 'flattered' and continued to flirt."

The flirting continued until sometime in January, when Wallace visited the girl while she was home alone. Under the pretense of playing "Call of Duty" together, Wallace arrived and eventually persuaded the girl to kiss him.

"I just kind of moved away from him because we’re on my bed, but he kept asking," the girl told the Post. "So I gave him a little peck on the lips, and he was like, 'Oh, see? It wasn’t that hard' in the weirdest tone ever."

The two ultimately had sexual intercourse that day, she said, and had sex again on at least one other occasion. Wallace, a married man, soon reportedly began referring to the victim as his "girlfriend," though he often kept their alleged relationship a secret. One day, while on a walk together, he allegedly began groping and kissing the girl, telling her, "I’m a dirty old man, and you love it." He even allegedly joked once that that he would "go to prison" if the girl ever became pregnant.

By early February, a friend of the girl became concerned about the possibly inappropriate relationship and reported it to officials at another school district. That district then contacted officials at Longwood, who then reported the information to the girl's mother. The girl's mother ultimately reported the supposed relationship to the Suffolk County Police Department, and Wallace was arrested on February 16. The girl's phone and a condom filled with "fluid" were given to police as possible evidence.

Though Longwood administrators had known about the allegations against Wallace since at least February, they did not send a letter about them to district parents until March 27. In the letter, Superintendent Lance Lohman claimed that he had only "recently" learned about the accusations but had since "permanently banned" Wallace from "all school grounds" in the district.

Wallace was also soon afterward relieved of his recruiting duties with the Marines. He has been charged with third-degree rape and faces up to four years in prison and a spot on the sex offender registry if convicted.

Now that Wallace is no longer in her life, the victim claims she understands that he preyed upon her vulnerability. "I would look back at my messages with him, and he said some weird things," she asserted. "At the time, I didn’t notice it was, like, grooming, but it is grooming."

She also insisted that Wallace "knew what he was doing" when he was grooming her. "He was fully aware," she said. "He’s not stupid. He’s a recruiter."

"I didn’t want to believe Wallace didn’t actually love me and care for me," she continued, "but the more I read the messages from him, the more blatantly obvious his manipulative behavior was."

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