this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2023
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A Florida woman is facing felony charges for allegedly posing online as a homeschooler to sexually assault an underage boy.

22-year-old Alyssa Ann Zinger was arrested in Tampa on Nov. 24 and taken to jail; she faces two counts of lewd or lascivious battery and five counts of lewd or lascivious molestation. The police do not believe this was an isolated incident.

“It is disturbing and unsettling to see an adult take advantage of a child and prey on them,” Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement. “Anyone who may have been a victim of Zinger’s, we encourage you to come forward. The Tampa Police Department will support you and ensure a predator like Zinger doesn’t cause you or others additional harm.”

Police say they were tipped off that Zinger allegedly had a relationship with a child between the ages of 12 and 15, and that following an investigation, they learned that she “communicated with the victim primarily through an online social media platform.”

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[–] TheBananaKing 101 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That's the second time in about a month I've seen it described as sexual assault / molestation / predation when it's a woman doing it.

Usually news outlets bend over backwards to call it a 'relationship' or a 'romp' or otherwise put a positive spin on it.

Colour me impressed.

[–] jettrscga 26 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Police say they were tipped off that Zinger allegedly had a relationship with a child between the ages of 12 and 15...

[–] TheBananaKing 11 points 1 year ago

Ah, bleh. I only looked at the excerpt

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago

Once AGAIN! Not a Drag Queen!

[–] jpreston2005 47 points 1 year ago (9 children)
[–] BenPranklin 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

While that's definitely what happened often the legal definition of "rape" in a state explicitly requires penetration with a penis. So a lot of things that a normal person would consider rape are classed as sexual assault and have to be reported as such in the media. You can see this in the recent E. Jean Carroll suit against trump. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/07/donald-trump-rape-language-e-jean-carroll

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[–] anarchy79 14 points 1 year ago (14 children)

If you call everything rape, the word loses all meaning. Obviously there is a difference between violent physical sexual assault and sending nudes to someone, and ages and context matters.

You are not being "brave" by pretending that the world is 100% black or white, and it's getting ridiculous with this echo chamber where everybody is competing over who hates rape the most, it's fucking childish, talk about the least controversial opinion one could possibly have.

Like wow, are you against pedophilia too? That is SO very bold of you!

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago

Thank you, florida woman.

Florida man has been dominating the eccentric-wild news segment but I see you have stepped up for the cause.

[–] FlyingSquid 33 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I already don't understand pedophilia, but I especially have a hard time wrapping my head around a person in their early 20s that's into grooming and sexually assaulting people who are not that much younger than them to begin with.

[–] zeppo 37 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For the same reason it’s illegal… while there might not be a huge difference in age between someone 22 and 14, there’s a vast difference in maturity, experience and vulnerability to manipulation. While I’m not a psychologist, it seems like for some people, it’s based on opportunity (easier to manipulate a younger person) and others it’s based on a psychological impairment regarding their own sexual development. For this lady perhaps it’s a combo.

[–] FlyingSquid 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm not trying to quarrel with the legality at all. There is no question in my mind that it deserves to be illegal. I just can't wrap my head around the psychology of this. This wasn't opportunity, this took effort.

[–] zeppo 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I didn't think you were questioning the illegality. I agree; you'd think it would be easier for her to find someone her age. Except for what I was saying earlier... some people go for minors because they can manipulate them more easily. And then, if she's warped in the way that she's particularly attracted to younger people, that explains why she'd seek one out.

[–] FlyingSquid 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The manipulation part does make sense to me. I just find the whole thing hard to keep in my head I guess.

[–] QHC 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's not a bad thing that you have a hard time empathizing with pedophiles, in case that helps.

[–] FlyingSquid 5 points 1 year ago

Haha. Agreed there!

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[–] TheBananaKing 6 points 1 year ago

It's about power. It's always about power.

Power over the victim, and the power to transgress.

If they can manipulate people and get away with heinous shit, in their mind they must have rich-person energy.

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[–] Drivebyhaiku 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

From what I understand for some it's just the tools they have at their disposal to get affection or sex in a very low effort or ego flattering way. To a teen, having a car, a place where there's no parents calling the shots and any kind of income is a huge and enviable power gap. The person's experience with other relationships means that they don't tend to go all in on the younger partner either the way a person experiencing love for the first time does. So you have someone who remembers that all consuming need to hold onto that first sacred relationship enough to mechanically exploit it so they can either shift all the work onto their younger partner and keep them on the back foot by threatening to end things or push their younger partner to do exactly what they want because to them the relationship is just one of a potential many. That disposition towards relationship fungibility means you have solid leverage.

Youngsters also don't have any real experience with autonomy. A kid is used to being told what to do and accepting inequity in power balances as normal. Rebelling in the face of adult authority structures also means there's a lack of seeing adults as peers to whom they can seek advice and benefit and trust their experience and more as just unfair weilders of social power that need be avoided so to transgress means you ditch the social structures that are the most able to spot the red flags.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There’s a huge difference between 12 and 22. The power imbalance means there can’t be meaningful consent.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The Tampa Bay Times reports that police stopped Zinger and a minor after they tried to steal from a Nordstrom store over the summer. “Zinger identified herself to an officer using her name, but stated she was born in 2009. The officer could not find information on her with the date of birth she provided, but found an Alyssa Ann Zinger who was born in 2001,” the article said.

Not at all the brightest bulb there.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Idiot didn't follow the golden rule

Only one crime at a time.

[–] Jerkface 7 points 1 year ago

THAT'S the golden rule? My kindergarten teacher played me for a fool!

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[–] Red_October 17 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The part that really confuses me is... wtf is a Homeschooler? Obviously this isn't a parent teaching their own child in a homeschool setting. Context makes it sound like they advertise as someone who will come teach a child who is being homeschooled... but isn't that just, you know, a teacher? Who the fuck is going to all the bother of homeschooling their kid, presumably specifically to keep them from going to a regular school, only to then hire some fucking rando off the internet to do it for them and providing even less accountability and background certainty than even a public school?

[–] NucleusAdumbens 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I assumed they meant she posed as a kid who is home schooled

[–] MayvisDelacour 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah I did too, it tracks since she gave her birth year as 2009 to cops when caught stealing from a store, when investigated she was actually born in 2001. On a side note, God damn people born in the 2000s are becoming adults? When did I get so old? Make it stop!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

1977 is a far away from the 2000s as the 2000s are from now, which is both super obvious and somehow surprising.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Zoomboingding 5 points 1 year ago

We're almost a quarter of the way through the 21st century

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Actually my godmother does this so I know a bit about it.

It does sound sort of confusing at first but there's more than one reason to homeschool someone usually it's done if the kid requires special handling.

Useful for when they're even massively ahead or massively behind other children. It can be helpful in both cases for them not to actually have to be in a class with other kids and that way the lesson can go at whatever pace they're comfortable with whether that's accelerated or slowed down.

Or sometimes they have a medical issue that makes going outside difficult or dangerous.

Although I have no idea how it would work in this context since she apparently volunteered her services to children who were the wise wouldn't be to make use of it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Another pretty common reason is religious or personal concerns about the school system. I was homeschooled all the way through highschool because my mom was afraid I'd learn gay people exist if I went to real school.

[–] BreadstickNinja 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Begging the question - when did you learn that gay people exist?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Sometime before they choose that username, I'm guessing.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Homeschool parents are often mad as a bag of cats.

They certainly would hire some rando based on a chat about Jesus rather than checking actual qualifications.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Greaaaat, here come the incels.

[–] SendMePhotos 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

OH MAN THAT'D BE SO HAWT WHY COULDN'T THAT BE MEEEEE

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

It's 50/50 people who wish it was them and people who only hate her because she's a woman and wouldn't say a thing if a man had done the same thing. But damn her being attractive, young, and feeeeemale

I'm all for holding people accountable based on their crimes and not their gender.

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[–] oldbaldgrumpy 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The verbage they use to describe the molestation of a child when the victimizer is female is disgusting. This bitch was a devious, calculated child predator. Her acts should not be white washed because she's a female. Pathetic.

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[–] oDDmON 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

According to a search warrant obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, that platform was Snapchat.

Figured one of the image based platforms.

The warrant detailed additional information about at least one relationship that allegedly spanned from May through September. Zinger allegedly sent explicit material to the minor and “engaged in sexual activities several times” with him.

I don’t get the mindset that leads to these kinds of actions.

[–] anon_8675309 6 points 1 year ago

Good! Means you’re normal.

[–] FlyingSquid 5 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Figured one of the image based platforms.

It is image-based, but it can be used entirely as an instant messaging platform too. My daughter basically never takes pictures with the app, but she chats with all of her friends on it. That is apparently the 13-year-old messaging app of choice, at least around here. From what I can tell second-hand, it's becoming the same mess of features no one asked for and enshittification in the attempt to turn itself into an everything app that every other social media platform suffers from.

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