Two More Suits Amended, Accuse Boy Scouts and Demand $10m

By Neil Pang
The Guam Daily Post
April 10, 2017

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/two-more-suits-amended-accuse-boy-scouts-and-demand-m/article_e6a80abc-1dc1-11e7-b3cb-27ab0da87ea1.html


Attorney David Lujan amended two more suits filed on behalf of plaintiffs accusing Guam clergy of child sexual abuse, to include the Boy Scouts of America as a named defendant and double the amount sought in damages to $10 million.

The complaints filed in the District court of Guam on behalf of plaintiffs Norman Aguon and Felix Manglona were amended yesterday to allege the Boy Scouts of America knew, of should have known, that then-Guam priest Louis Brouillard was abusing boys under his care in Troop 24 when he served as both a priest with the Archdiocese of Agana and a scoutmaster for the Aloha Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Both plaintiffs allege Brouillard abused them multiple times during the early 1970s when Manglona and Aguon served as altar boys at the San Isidro Catholic Church of Malojloj and members of Boy Scout Troop 24.

According to Aguon's complaint, Brouillard abused him at the Carmelite Convent multiple times over a four-year period when the priest sought and obtained permission from Aguon's parents to have Aguon spend the night at the convent, using as an excuse that Brouillard did not want Aguon to be late to serve the next day as an altar boy for mass.

"Throughout this time period, (Aguon's) parents were deceived time and again by Brouillard's request for an overnight stay because the parents, like the Catholic community at large on Guam, had been inculcated by a deep-seeded trust in the Catholic Church," according to court documents.

Both Aguon's and Manglona's complaints go on to add that the Boy Scouts of America kept detailed, secret records of abusive persons employed by the Boy Scouts, and that officials within the organization actively concealed this information for fear of what a scandal might do to the Boy Scouts' credibility and revenue streams, that they would "lose their prestige and reputation as a 'safe program for boys' and they would likely face liability for the thousands of boys who had already been sexually abused" by Scout leaders and others employed by the Boy Scouts of America.

Several suits filed by Lujan in Guam's federal court have alleged abuse at the hands of Brouillard, both in his capacity as a priest at various local parishes and as a scout leader for Troop 24 of the Boy Scouts of America throughout the 1970s. While so far only four of the cases against Brouillard – which initially did not name the Boy Scouts – have been amended, it is anticipated that the remaining cases that have alleged abuse while on outings with the Boy Scouts will be amended both to include the Boy Scouts of America as a named defendant and to raise the amount sought in damages from $5 million to $10 million