New Boys Scouts Lawsuit Shows Longtime Issue

A legal action recently filed in Montana against the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) accusing it of failing to prevent the sexual abuse of scouts. The plaintiff claims he was subjected to sexual abuse at a BSA camp decades ago. In this case, the alleged abuser was criminally charged and plead guilty in the 1970’s, but he served no jail time.   The defendants include the Montana Council of the Boy Scouts of America and two sponsoring agencies. They were filed in District Court in Great Falls, thanks to a Montana law passed last year that gave a year for plaintiffs missing the statute of limitations to file legal claims, reports the Associated Press. At least two others have brought legal action against the BSA and the Montana Council. They claim they were sexually abused by scout leaders who were not adequately supervised by the defendants. Plaintiff Christopher Ford stated he told his parents about the abuse he suffered at a Scout outing near Libby in 1974. A year later, assistant Scoutmaster John David McBride plead guilty to 15 felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts upon several boys and deviate sexual conduct without consent. McBride was given a three-year deferred sentence, according to a 1977 letter from the Lincoln County sheriff that Ford said he obtained from McBride’s “ineligible volunteer” file kept by the BSA. Ford said he learned McBride never served any jail time. The BSA kept ineligible volunteer files almost since its inception, according to Seattle attorney Michael Pfau, whose firm represents the three victims. BSA files released in other cases estimate 7,800 perpetrators had molested more than 12,000 boys. Pfau says BSA failed to put in place effective policies and procedures to protect children. These files show the organization was aware of the problem and knew pedophiles used Scouting to get access to children. Criminal injustice system often leaves convicted pedophiles in the public Although many child molesters serve jail time, it’s not a uniform punishment. A civil lawsuit may be a way for a victim to force the BSA to accept responsibility after the criminal justice system failed to take their abuse seriously. Benjamin Lawrence Petty plead guilty to first-degree rape, forcible sodomy, and rape by instrumentation in 2018 after raping a 13-year-old girl at a church-run camp in 2016. Petty worked as a cook at the Falls Creek camp in southern Oklahoma. The Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma ran it. The Washington Post reports a plea bargain agreement was agreed to by the victim’s parents and the judge in the case. In it, Petty was sentenced to 15 years of probation, using an ankle monitor for two years, and a lifetime on the sex offender registry. The fact Petty is legally blind was given as a reason he didn’t have to spend time in jail. Time magazine reports that documents released in 2014 showed that five years earlier, a Delaware judge sentenced a wealthy heir to the DuPont chemical company to probation after he admitted he raped his daughter, who was three at the time, saying he would “not do well” in prison. The daughter of Robert H. Richards IV told her grandmother in 2005 of the abuse. She said her father told her it was their “little secret” but she didn’t want “my daddy touching me anymore.” Richards accepted a plea deal and with good reason. He plead guilty to fourth-degree rape charges, which usually results in more than two years of jail time. Prosecutors sought only probation and Judge Jan Jurden agreed. Richards was sentenced to an eight-year prison sentence but commuted it all to probation. Jeremy Schwer pleaded guilty in 2016 to felony child molesting after he sexually abused his then six-year-old daughter while she was recovering from a brain tumor in 2013. The deputy prosecutor in the Indiana case wanted Schwer to be imprisoned for at least nine years in prison, reports the New York Daily News. He was sentenced to 12 years of probation. Schwer’s wife, who was divorcing him at the time, asked the court not to sentence him to prison because she needed his financial support for her children. The prosecutor didn’t agree, stating Schwer had been out of jail for a year before pleading guilty and had not financially supported his family during that time. Does your firm represent sex abuse victims? Want the best way to get more and better cases? A civil lawsuit can’t put those responsible for Boy Scout abuse in jail, but it can create some accountability for the trauma and suffering inflicted on victims. How do you compete against other firms to get Boy Scout abuse cases that can result in substantial settlements? You hire ForLawFirmsOnly Marketing. Avoid all these hassles and budget-busting marketing and advertising. Connect to potential clients ready, willing, and able to retain your services. We use our energy and expertise to obtain the highest quality leads for our clients. We use highly sophisticated marketing and advertising campaigns so you won’t have to. Get started before your competitors do. We can help a limited number of clients. Contact us for a quote. Call 855-943-8736 or use our Request A Quote form. Edward Lott, Ph.D., M.B.A. President and Managing Partner ForLawFirmsOnly Marketing, Inc. Ed can be reached at (or visit his website) edl@forlawfirmsonly.com 855-943-8736 ext. 101 www.ForLawFirmsOnly.com

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