Watertown woman creates group to empower others

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWNY) - A Watertown woman wants to make others feel safer after a scary encounter at her home last month.

Mary Compo Olney doesn’t want another north country woman to go through what she says happened to her. She says last month a man came to her door saying he was looking for his dog. He tried to lure her outside and then exposed himself.

“I was scared, I was nervous, I didn’t want to go outside and I just thought to myself something has to be done here so I decided to create a group to empower women,” said Compo Olney.

That Facebook group is called Women on Watch and has more than 2,000 members. It’s a place where women can share information and tell each other what’s going on in their neighborhoods.

“So women didn’t have to feel this way, so they wouldn’t become victims in their own houses and if they did, they would have other women to support them,” said Compo Olney.

The group will also be working with Watertown police.

“I think it will be good thing for the area. It can be a good assistance for us and help us to respond more quickly to an area that might be having a problem,” said Detective Lieutenant Joe Donoghue of the Watertown Police Department.

With the help of Compo Olney, city police were able to arrest 28 year old Storm Hickox of Watertown and charge him with lewdness.

“A lot of women are afraid to come forward or say anything because they are afraid their offenders are still out there and in my case, his court cases, it happened in August, his court appearance isn’t until November, so you really have no protection so that’s what I decided we need to band together in a group and empower each other,” said Compo Olney.

Since the group is private, Compo Olney say people can reach out to her to join.

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