"At 12, I Was Groomed and Assaulted by a Corrupt Cop—30 Years Later, I Stabbed Him and Faced an Unexpected Court Reaction"

WHEN he was just 12-years-old, Clark Fredericks was invited to police officer Dennis Pegg’s house.

Clark trusted Pegg, who was a family friend and a Boy Scout leader. But instead of looking after him, evil Pegg began a campaign of abuse. Now, speaking to the Sun, Clark reveals the moment he “snapped” and killed his alleged rapist in a frenzied attack – and why he received a standing ovation in court as he was jailed for his murder.

Clark Fredericks, pictured with his college girlfriend Lisa, says he was abused by a police officer and Boy Scout leader as a child Credit: Clark Fredericks Clark Fredericks, pictured, was jailed for the murder of police officer Dennis Pegg Credit: Clark Fredericks

Throughout the seventies, officer Dennis Pegg allegedly used his position in the community to rape and abuse hundreds of children in Stillwater, New Jersey.

One of them was Clark Fredericks, who, as a result of the abuse, had a lifelong battle with PTSD, gambling and mafia debt.

In 2012, more than three decades after the abuse first started, Clark returned to Pegg’s house and stabbed him to death. Pegg was 68 and had never married or had children. He was never convicted.

As Clark stood over Pegg with the knife, he asked him: “How does it feel raping little kids now?”

Clark was arrested the following day and thrown into the same jail where Pegg, as Lieutenant of the County Jail, is believed to have groomed young, vulnerable, male inmates upon their release.

He often picked up young men who were hitchhiking and offered them a place to stay while they got back on their feet.

During Clark’s trial, hundreds of people from the community packed the courthouse.

Incredibly, despite confessing to the murder, Clark got a standing ovation in the court – and the judge apologised for having to jail him.

Clark Fredericks pictured as a child Credit: Clark Fredericks Police officer and Boy Scout leader Dennis Pegg was accused of abusing hundreds of children Credit: Clark Fredericks

“Everybody has a story about Dennis Pegg,” Clark, now 60 and a free man, tells the Sun.

“The guards were embarrassed that someone who wore a badge and had a gun would do that kind of .”

Recalling the moment the judge delivered his verdict, Clark adds: “He said, ‘I know Mr Fredericks only did what he did because of what was done to him’.”

He reportedly apologised for sending Clark to “for a single day” as he jailed him for a minimum of five years.

Adding details about the murder, Clark adds: “I saw the bed he raped me on, I walked over to it, and I spat on it.”

But looking back, Clark has doubts over what he did.

“What I did, it didn’t heal me in any way,” he tells the Sun.

“All I did was stop that piece of garbage from ruining another life. You don’t heal from trauma by adding more trauma.

“Murdering someone is ugly; it hurts your soul.

“Now you’re going to take all that trauma you have and deal with it in a prison setting. That’s absolute misery.”

When Clark was six, his mother helped nurse Pegg back to in their home after a serious car crash.

This, he says, is when the grooming started.

Clark is pictured as a teenager with sister Holly and brother Jay in Stillwater, New Jersey Credit: Clark Fredericks Clark Fredericks’s mugshot after killing his alleged cop abuser Credit: Clark Fredericks

“It was like the sheep invited the wolf into their home,” he says.

At the time, Pegg was known as a pillar of the community – a reputation which gave him access to hundreds of vulnerable children.

“The first interaction I recall is when he touched my open heart surgery scar,” Clark says.

“I had open-heart surgery in 1971, and my parents were so proud of me for surviving it.

“Here’s a sickly little kid who had life-or-death surgery, and you’re going to use his scar as a way to start grooming him for your sexual deviancy?

“It went from pats on the knee to having a , then matches with a hard-on, and showing me Polaroid pictures of penises.”

Clark realised the Polaroids may have included pictures of other victims – including those of his own brother and his neighbour, Jeff.

Jeff took his own life as a result of the abuse.

Dennis Pegg, pictured, was accused of abusing children in New Jersey Credit: Clark Fredericks Clark pictured with his mum, sister Holly and brother Jay at a 90th birthday party Credit: Clark Fredericks

On the night Jeff died, Pegg insisted on being the one to drive Jeff’s uncle to the mortuary to identify the body.

“He even insisted on going in to view Jeff’s body with a gunshot wound to the head,” Clark says.

“It’s almost like he’s viewing the handiwork he did.”

Years later, 14 handwritten letters to his victims were found in Pegg’s safety deposit box and alongside them was Jeff’s obituary.

For years, Clark stayed silent about his abuse, suffering from challenges and addiction, which he blames on childhood abuse.

He says: “ took away any thoughts of Dennis Pegg that I would have.”

“I went on an incredible run, the first time I went I won $1,700, the second time I won $2,200.

“I spent almost six months reading on blackjack and craps, practising and studying.

Clark reunited with his college sweetheart, Lisa Credit: Clark Fredericks Clark is pictured with his partner Lisa, whom he reconnected with after getting his life back on track Credit: Clark Fredericks

“My biggest win was $153,000, and I was probably up over a quarter of a million dollars.”

“Within six months, I was broke and in debt to the mob for $77,000, and I got contacted by the that a hit had been put out on my life,” he says.

“I’m getting daily phone calls from these guys screaming at me, telling me that they’re going to kill me. They gave me an ultimatum: rob a bank, or we’re going to kill you.”

The threat never became a reality, leaving Clark to suspect that the men involved had either been killed, arrested, or he that he had been the victim of a sophisticated mafia scam.

But it meant that Clark was going into his 40s broke, afraid, and still no closer to dealing with his unresolved trauma.

“I fell into a deep , and getting out of bed in the morning was just impossible,” he says.

“Instead of pouring in my travel mug, I poured and drank it on my way to work.”

Later, he got hooked on cocaine, heroin and Vicodin.

But like many Americans who have suffered opioid addiction, Clark began buying pills off the street when the doctor’s prescriptions failed to meet his growing demand.

He says: “You build up a tolerance for them quickly, and it’s never enough.

“ try to fool you; they lie to you. I thought I had the perfect balance, and meanwhile, everyone around me is like, ‘Clark is a train wreck’.”

Clark was still living in Stillwater at the time, where he would bump into his alleged abuser, Pegg.

He said: “I remember going out to a bar one time and he was there, he came right over to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Hey, how are ya?’

“Another time, I passed him in the car with a girl I was . I just looked over and started cursing and punching the steering wheel.”

Nothing could prepare him for the horror of a chance encounter in a local deli when Clark looked up to see his abuser tousling the hair of a young boy.

“I didn’t equate the gambling, mob debts, heroin, coke, or the booze to Pegg,” he says.

“I tried so hard to put it in a nice little box, deep down inside. But when that boy called him the same nickname he used to make me call him, it ripped open 30 years of pain.

“I couldn’t get that kid out of my mind, realising that Pegg is still doing the same thing 30 years later. I spiralled out of control after that… it haunted me.”

Just days later, Clark finally snapped and stabbed Pegg to death on June 12, 2012.

When he was arrested, Clark told police, “in effect that the victim got what was coming to him, and that he has been a child molester for years”.

“Multiple people” backed up Clark’s abuse claims, Sussex County Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller said in 2012.

Today, 60-year-old Clark is a free man, working as an author, advocate and mentor – using the scars of his past to help protect and heal others.

He released his book, Scarred: A Memoir of a Childhood Stolen and a Life Reclaimed, last year.

He lays bare the predatory playbook, maps the trajectory of trauma and de-stigmatises male survivorship.

Sharing his story directly with lawmakers, Clark became the driving force behind the historic bill that extended the civil statute of limitations to age 55.

Previously, victims of childhood sexual assault only had until their 20s to file a civil lawsuit against their abuser.

More importantly, Clark was able to reunite with his college sweetheart, Lisa.

“I reached out, we had coffee, and that was it. We began falling back in love again,” he says.

“At the end of the story, I get the woman back who I lost 30 years before because I couldn’t address my trauma.

“How amazing that the organisation that surrounded my house with guns drawn, paid me to come be their keynote speaker.

“It’s amazing to be able to use all this c**p to help somebody else. It just makes it all worthwhile.”