Mason Wallace: Marine charged with grooming and raping girl, 16, was ex-sexual assault advocate
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: Staff Sgt Mason Wallace, a married US Marine Corps recruiter and former sexual assault advocate, has been accused of grooming and raping a 16-year-old high school girl from Long Island. Wallace has been charged with third-degree rape for allegedly manipulating the teen’s interest in the military and forming a questionable relationship with her.
The victim claimed that Wallace once told her, “I’m a dirty old man and you love it!” She also told the New York Post that Wallace groomed her during their relationship. “I would look back at my messages with him and he said some weird things. At the time, I didn’t notice it was like grooming, but it is grooming.”
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Who is Mason Wallace?
Wallace is a 28-year-old US Marine Corps recruiter who previously served as a Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Victim Advocate with the Marines and counseled victims of assault. He became a recruiter out of Patchogue and was tasked with helping victims recover from their attacks as part of his role as a sexual assault advocate.
He reportedly served as a go-between for resources and information, per the New York Post. Wallace was recently charged with third-degree rape and accused of grooming a 16-year-old girl. Wallace was immediately suspended from his recruiting duties after the initial allegations came to light, the outlet reported. He could face up to four years in prison and be forced to register as a sex offender if found guilty. However, his lawyer said Wallace maintains his innocence until proven guilty.
How did Mason Wallace meet the victim?
Wallace reportedly met the victim during his first recruiting visit to Longwood High School in October, the teen told the publication. She alleged that the former was not working as a victim advocate while on recruiting duty but used his status to lure her into the relationship. The victim said that she was drawn to Wallace when he arrived in his Marine Corps uniform due to her family’s ties to the military and fascination with video games.
She said the duo initially built a rapport over the possibility of the teen enlisting in the Corps. They also exchanged contact information through Discord the following month “in hopes of talking about the Marines and possibly playing [Call of Duty] together,” the victim alleged. “He knew what he was doing. He was fully aware. He’s not stupid. He’s a recruiter,” she claimed.
What are the accusations against Mason Wallace?
Wallace reportedly started exchanging flirtatious texts with the 16-year-old in December after the teen told Wallace she had a crush on him. The latter allegedly visited the victim’s house in January to play video games while her mother was not home and remained unaware of Wallace’s visit. The teen claimed that Wallace “talked about the military” after the duo played some games, before asking her to kiss him.
“I just kind of moved away from him because we’re on my bed. But he kept asking,” she alleged. “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 teen recalled. She said Wallace continued making sexual advances towards her and alleged that the encounter led to unprotected statutory rape. The teen said she texted Wallace after he left, expressing her concerns about a possible pregnancy. She said she told him she did not know what to do with a “mini Mason,” to which he allegedly responded saying, “I can tell you what I would do. Go to prison.”
“At some point, he was like, ‘Oh, do you want to be like my girlfriend?’ I’m like, ‘I guess, whatever that entails.’ And he’s like, ‘OK.’ So he kept calling me his girlfriend,” the victim claimed. The teen went on to allege that she went for a walk in the woods near her home during her second meeting with Wallace, during which the duo talked some more about the Marines.
The victim claims she reportedly told Wallace she was unsure about fitting the Corps, to which he allegedly replied, “I think you have a lot more Marine in you than others,” before sharing a perverted laugh. She further alleged that Wallace groped and kissed her during the walk and said, “I’m a dirty old man and you love it.” However, she claimed he was also cautious about the two being spotted in public and told her he could not hold her “hand or kiss” in the open due to his status as a recruiter.
On February 7, Wallace allegedly arrived at the victim’s home again without any supervision. The two had protected sex this time and Wallace allegedly told the teen he would arrange a recruiting appointment for her and her mother. “I remember he put his clothes on. He looked over at me on my bed, and then he was like, ‘I’m going to fill an appointment card for you today.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, OK.’ I told him not to, but he was like, ‘Well, I’m going to,’” the victim alleged.
That same day, a concerned friend from another school district reportedly informed her high school Wallace’s relationship with the teen, prompting authorities to contact Longwood High School, the New York Post reported. The school contacted the victim’s mother, but the latter said they did not reveal anything about Wallace and the teen’s affair. The teen was then forced to share the details of her disturbing relationship with Wallace.
The victim’s mother reportedly contacted the Suffolk County Police Department and Wallace was arrested on February 16. A condom containing “fluid” and the victim’s phone were taken by SCPD as evidences in the case on February 7, the outlet confirmed. The teen said she exchanged several explicit messages and photos over various communication apps throughout her alleged relationship with Wallace. “I didn’t want to believe Wallace didn’t actually love me and care for me but the more I read the messages from him, the more blatantly obvious his manipulative behavior was,” the teen told the outlet.
‘I hate him for what he did’
The victim’s mother told the New York Post that Longwood School District allegedly informed the teen’s parents that Wallace was banned from school grounds and arrested in a letter sent out by the superintendent on March 27 despite being aware of the situation since early February. She claimed a school official allegedly advised the victim to take a week off in March after she was subjected to victim-blaming rumors in the wake of Wallace’s arrest.
The mother claimed that the school allegedly tried to make the teen join a late afternoon program for her education requirements but the former refused as she believed it was an attempt to hide her daughter. Speaking about Wallace, the mother told the outlet, “He continued to speak to her about enlisting all this time as if the Marine Corps were his pimp and he their prostitute.”
“Instead of being a decent human being and reporting this to the school guidance counselor or her parents, he told her he was ‘flattered’ and continued to flirt,” the mother said, reflecting on the time her daughter told Wallace about her crush. The victim’s mother also asked the Marine Corps to be more accountable for their actions. “Violation of innocence and theft of trust might not have happened,” she said.
“I hate him for what he did to [my daughter], to my family. I can’t even imagine what his own mother must think,” the victim’s mother stated. “The Marine Corps takes allegations of misconduct seriously; they are thoroughly investigated and handled at the appropriate judicial or administrative forum,” the branch told the publication. Wallace is reportedly scheduled to be back in court on May 31.