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She Gladly Offered Shoulder To Cry On

Tribune photo by ANDY JONES

Jane +Occhiolini, who started the Pasco County Sheriff's Office Victim Advocacy Program, is retiring today.

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By LISA A. DAVIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Even after nearly 23 years on the job and thousands of cases, Jane Occhiolini remembers her first call to help a victim deal with the aftermath of a horrific event.

As she drove that day, Occhiolini, the first victim advocate for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, ran through a checklist in her head of what she must do upon arriving at the home of a girl who had suffered sexual abuse.

"I was scared because I was new, and you want to do the best job for this little girl and her family," she recalled recently while sitting outside a courtroom at the West Pasco Judicial Center.

Once she arrived at the girl's home, she realized that her training couldn't prepare her for the difficulties of trying to assist a victim of a serious crime or other tragedy.

"Maybe somebody doesn't want to talk to you for the first half hour," she said. "I've been called out to death scenes where people won't talk to you for hours. You have to get very comfortable with that silence."

In the end, Occhiolini was able to get through to that little girl and help. The experience is forever etched in her memory.

"I know exactly where the house is, exactly where the street is," she said. "I drive by it sometimes."

That call was the beginning of not only a career in early 1986, but a way of life. Now 65, Occhiolini retires today to spend more time with her ailing husband, Caesar, 83. She recently reflected on her years of reaching out to those in need, her part in building the agency's program and the shift in culture with victim's rights.

When she heard about the new advocate position at the sheriff's office, she - then married to a sheriff's detective - jumped at the opportunity.

"I wanted it so bad," she said.

When the call came that she got the job, she screamed with excitement as co-workers at the county's utility department cheered her on. She stared Jan. 31, 1986.

"I'll never forget the day I got the call," she said, smiling. "I knew, I knew, I knew it would be the best thing ever."

And it has been.

"It's met every personal and professional need," Occhiolini said.

At first, the job was challenging because people didn't know about victim advocates and how they fit into the system. One former detective made it clear he wasn't ready to accept advocates when Pasco's program started.

"Stay out of my face and stay out of my investigations," she recalled the detective telling her.

Legislation Opens Doors

In 1988, when the Victims Rights Act gave victims in Florida permission to be present and heard at all of a suspect's court hearings and other rights, things became a little easier.

Eventually, that detective who gave Occhiolini a hard time became one of her biggest supporters.

"We laughed about that for years," Occhiolini recalled.

Others in law enforcement and the judicial system also began to realize the value of victim advocates.

"It has grown to such a respectable, a highly respectable position," she said.

Now the Victim Advocate Unit is four strong, including a Spanish speaker. Its supervisor, Sgt. Eric Seltzer, is looking to fill Occhiolini's position.

"It's a loss to the sheriff's office and the community," Seltzer said of Occhiolini's departure. "She's passionate about her work. She cares. She definitely cares about the victims."

Connections Make It All Worth It

Advocates are called out to crime scenes, sometimes in the middle of the night, to help victims or their families understand what has happened, or simply be a shoulder to cry on.

When necessary, they help with funeral arrangements, give social services referrals and teach what to expect from the judicial system.

They attend court hearings with or in place of the victims, many times sitting shoulder to shoulder with the ones who are in pain. They attend sexual assault examinations with rape victims. They see things most people never see and pray they don't. They do it not because of the paycheck, but because of the passion for helping others.

When she hears a simple "thank you" from the people she helps, it makes the crazy hours, dealing with tragedy, and interruptions to her own life worth it.

"I can walk away from something, and I smile because the connections have been made," she said of her encounters with victims. "I can walk away, and they're going to be fine."

Kay Reeves remembers meeting Occhiolini after her 26-year-old daughter, Teri Lynn Matthews, disappeared and a detective arrived at her home, just off U.S. 41, south of the Brooksville line, to tell her Matthews had been found.

On Dec. 5, 1986, Matthews' body was discovered wrapped in a wet sheet near railroad tracks off U.S. 41 near Gowers Corner in central Pasco County. She had been raped, beaten and stabbed. Serial killer Oscar Ray Bolin has been tried and retried again in the case and is on death row. For each court appearance and each trial until the most recent conviction by a Pasco jury in 2001, Occhiolini was by Reeves' side.

"She was kind of my rock there for a long time, kind of a big sister, only I was the old lady," Reeves, now 70, said recently, chuckling. "She'll always be in our hearts. We'll always be thinking about her, and she'll always be on our mind. We'll never forget her."

It's all the people like Reeves who make Occhiolini proud of her work but also make it hard to walk away and step into the retirement phase of her life.

"It's bittersweet," she said.

But she plans to still be a force in the community, hopefully later finding part-time and volunteer work within the judicial system and working for victims, senior citizens or on woman's issues. First, though, she and her husband have some traveling to do.

"I have so many things to look forward to," Occhiolini said. "I have a long list."

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

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