Breanah Scarbrough
Not many people know the true location of Breanah Scarbrough and her family.
They’re in hiding, under the advice of law enforcement officials, from a dangerous man they can’t locate. The man, a former employee for Breanah, is facing three felony charges including rape and false imprisonment.
“There’s never a moment in time where I’m not worried,” Breanah said.
A little less than a year ago, Breanah was working as a regional manager for a car dealershipwhen she learned one of her salesmen was violating company policy. When she confronted him, the man slammed her against a wall and sexually assaulted her.
Breanah said she didn’t receive support from her supervisor and the man went on to attack her several more times. He was finally terminated after newly installed security cameras captured his final attack on Breanah in the dealership’s service room.
“I turned the surveillance footage over to the detective and resigned from my position,” Breanah said. “I had the U-Haul attached to my truck when I showed up at the police station because, at that point, my life was being threatened because I terminated him.”
It was an extremely difficult situation for Breanah and her family. For more than a decade, Breanah had been a military spouse to Ryan, an Army veteran who deployed once to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan. After being medically discharged in 2016, Ryan received a 90% disability rating that makes it hard for him to maintain employment. Breanah had, for the past seven years, been the family’s main provider.
“My husband’s disability was about $1,000 a month, which wasn’t enough to support a family,” Breannah said.
Unable to work and with funds dwindling, matters were made worse when her attacker posted his $500,000 bond. Despite a no contact order, Breanah said authorities encouraged her family to “just pack up and leave for a while,” making it nearly impossible for her to find steady work.
“I have 42 pages of notes on my phone of every organization I reached out to for help, ones that promote helping sexual assault survivors,” Breanah said. “They all said they were out of funding or couldn’t help.”
Then, at the suggestion of her psychiatrist, Breanah started looking into veteran service organizations. It had never occurred to her that her husband’s unemployability was a military service-related hardship that could qualify the Scarbroughs for assistance from organizations like USA Cares.
“(USA Cares) really saved us,” Breanah said. “My credit can’t be pulled because it would give away our location, so I can’t even take out loans. USA Cares, what they did, it helped me sleep for the first time in a long time.”
Still unsure of what the future holds, Breanah said her mental health treatment is going well. She’s currently in law school and hopes to be a victim rights advocate for other sexual assault survivors.
“It hurts my heart to know I’m not the only one because there’s some out there who don’t have access or affiliation to the military,” Breanah said. “I understand how many people don’t come forward because they’ve told me they won’t because of stories like mine.