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Michael Goren is a teenager who was constantly victimized by serial pedophile Andrew Croft, his legal guardian, and conspiring pedophile Craig Prince. Goren would eventually be the prime suspect in Croft's murder.

Background[]

Michael hails from Belgium. His parents died in a car accident while his grandmother, his only living relative was unable to care for him because of her health problems. He was taken in by Andrew Croft, who was a family friend that often went to Michael's soccer games. Croft took Michael to America for him to make a fresh start in life.

However, Croft was really a pedophile that repeatedly raped Michae from age eight into adolescence. He struggled to fight the abuse and didn't stress in doing so after a while, being able to make friends and get a girlfriend while serving as a life coach to kids. Unfortunately, Croft ruined his life by bringing in his likeminded friend Craig Prince, who would visit him in Millbrook, while taking to joining Croft in sexually abusing Michael. This intensified after the pair moved to New York up the street from him.

He reached a breaking point especially with Croft trying to rape Danny Burrell, Michael's best friend, causing the latter to cut ties with him after the latter was too scared to intervene.

Wrong is Right[]

Eventually, Michael soon snapped from the abuse before he shot and killed Croft, dumping his corpse on the beach and setting his genitals on fire. Michael was eventually revealed to be the murderer and surrendered himself to the police, but he denied being a victim even after Croft's past was revealed. His lawyer decided to use this news for his defense. However, he rejected the offer and continue to deny being a victim.

On the stand, he continued to lie until A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot poked holes in his stories and revealed she and the detectives spoke to Burrell, who confirmed his near assault by Croft and was willing to testify that Michael witnessed it. She then urged Michael to come clean about what really happened. Reluctantly, he finally admits to being a victim and revealed Craig Prince was in on the rapes and cover-ups. He also revealed that he chose not to talk because of his fear of being harmed by Prince, due to his connections and how a boy was raped and killed in Belgium by Croft and Prince, who avoided charges due to elite positions.

In the end, he took the plea for a manslaughter conviction and was imprisoned with a reduced sentence. Prince was successfully arrested, and his crimes exposed in front of horrified colleagues at the office thanks to Michael's testimony. (SVU: "Wrong Is Right")

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