A surge of alleged victims floods internet platforms to call out predators in their social groups.

It started on Aug. 11 with a new Instagram account, @thisisour831, and a post showing a throbbing heart with a hashtag, #thisisour831. By introduction, the young woman in Salinas who launched the account wrote that “[this] is a project in response to recent conversations in Monterey County on the culture of silence and shame that exists around sexual violence, abuse, and trauma.

“This is not a new issue. It is a pattern. @thisisour831 is intended to be a safe place for women and community members in Monterey County affected by sexual violence, abuse, and harassment to share their stories as both a form of healing as well as a way to bring to light patterns of abuse by members of the community whose platforms or social positions allow them power and access to continue to abuse.”

In the weeks since, survivors of sexual abuse have come to her with stories to post on the account, some of them anonymously, and some posts resonated powerfully. The woman behind the account spoke to the Weekly on the condition of anonymity, concerned about her own safety in exposing alleged misconduct.

She’d watched as social media had publicly exposed serial offenders in the Los Angeles music scene, finally holding them to account, and wanted to create something similar for Monterey County: “I feel like it’s something that has been prevalent here but hasn’t been grappled with,” she says.

In just a few weeks, the account has forced the public to grapple with it.

On Aug. 29, the account posted an anonymous story about a former Salinas High School teacher, Juan Govea, who most recently worked at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. Public pressure immediately surged and on Sept. 3, just five days after the post, museum leadership announced he’d resigned. (He went to court in 2017 on criminal charges involving sex with a minor but the case was dismissed.) Govea did not respond to interview requests.

In another story on the Instagram account, two women accused two young men from Salinas, whose local band was well known before relocating to Los Angeles, of various forms of psychological and sexual abuse. One allegation included allegedly choking one of the women non-consensually during a hookup. Another accused the other man of punching her during sex. One man allegedly made one of the women watch videos of abuse and child pornography.

The Weekly reached out to both men; one did not respond, and one declined to comment.

One accuser tells the Weekly she first shared her story in-person with mutual acquaintances because she believed they “deserved to know what kind of person he was.” Posting anonymously on social media, she hoped there would be consequences: “I felt like my story really showed people this was a pattern. I really don’t want him working a bar ever again. That’s another reason I posted, so people would spread the word.”

The creator of @thisisour831 says these allegations were one of the reasons she created the account. She’d long heard rumors, then created the account in hope of increased accountability for offenders.

It’s not always clear what that looks like, and alleged perpetrators don’t always get to share their side of the story on social media. Stories can be anonymously posted, without the ability of the press or the public to verify details. Consequences for those named can be substantial.

In Govea’s case, the Instagram account creator was surprised by the impact. So was the alleged victim (whose identity the Weekly has not verified), according to the woman behind the account: “She was very happy with his resignation, and very happy just to have felt like she shared something that happened to her. It did generate a lot of support, even though she was anonymous.”

On other platforms, including Reddit and Facebook, victims recently posted stories, and some have spoken anonymously to the Weekly, about a man formerly named Jeremy Schrock, a founder of the fire-spinning group Fire and Flow. (In 2016, he petitioned to change his name to Namraja Singh.)

In 2010, he pleaded guilty to charges of sex with a minor and he was placed on three years probation and sentenced to six months in jail.

While that case is the only legal record, two women say they were plied with drugs, groomed and sexually abused, and that Singh had a pattern of sexual abuse. They both say they have heard multiple similar stories from other young women.

But Singh faced little consequence in his community until the anonymous stories came out. Since then, he’s faced criticism from fire-dancing enthusiasts and other health and wellness groups – a community he’s embedded in – throughout the greater Bay Area.

Singh says the number of incidents has been blown out of proportion. He also denies distributing drugs, but describes an atmosphere with shared drugs. He also says the social media backlash doesn’t work. “Cancel culture isn’t helpful because it doesn’t fix the problem. It just pushes people out and we’re not unlearning together,” he says.

Instead, he is calling for reconciliation: “Why aren’t people speaking up in the moment, or approaching me instead of going on social media? I’d be open to that instead of making it all public. It’s hard, I know. But it could prevent so much pain for all people.”

One former partner and alleged victim says, “He hasn’t been held accountable. He changed his name and came back in. It was a huge red flag for me because it allowed him to restart the cycle again.”

Another says, “Cancel culture allows for accountability where we can’t get any.”

The Monterey County Rape Crisis Center has offered survivors of sexual violence to write blog posts anonymously, but they also have a policy of not naming perpetrators. “Survivors have the right to tell their stories in a safe place,” MCRCC Executive Director Clare Mounteer says.

She notes that some studies estimate only 15 to 30 percent of cases are reported to law enforcement.

“There are a multitude of reasons people won’t say anything,” Mounteer says. “We are at a point in time where some people just don’t feel safe in the system.”

Monterey District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni says anonymous social media posts do not meet the standard of the court system when it comes to pursuing accountability and justice.

“Multiple victims reporting anonymously through social media is not helpful for investigation or prosecution purposes,” Pacioni writes by email. “Evidence, including statements, require trial attorneys to lay a foundation prior to admission in court.”