© Timothy Hurst/The Coloradoan
Lydia Lerma, the mother of the first victim who came forward in a child sexual assault case against Andrew Vanderwal, poses for a portrait in her child's bedroom on Tuesday, April 10, 2018, at her home in Fort Collins, Colo.
Anyone who has ever dealt with law enforcement when they've been a victim of a crime knows that the wheels of justice move very slowly. For some, the waiting is too much to bear and when police - who are often more concerned with prosecuting people for
possessing a plant - refuse to go after criminals, they take matters into their own hands.
When Lydia Lerma discovered that her son had been molested by a man who was living with her ex-husband, the crime devastated her. However, the insultingly low bail placed on her son's abuser was equally devastating as it allowed him to walk free for very little money. When police allowed Andrew Vanderwal to walk free after posting $750 bail, the family was doubly impacted. Worse still, Vanderwal fled to Mexico, escaping justice and infuriating Lerma, who then made it her mission to become a pedophile hunter.
Vanderwal had fully confessed to molesting Lerma's son. Yet even with a full confession, a judge set the bail so low he was able to get out of jail and go on the run. Vanderwal quickly found refuge south of the U.S. border, eventually settling in Cuauhtemoc, Mexico, which is where Lerma found him, almost a year and a half after police let a confessed pedophile walk free.
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