GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Christian Boone – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s become a familiar narrative: Respected community leader, active in the Boy Scouts, accused of sexual abuse but shielded for decades from prosecution and exposure.
Ernest Boland, whose predatory behavior was detailed in so-called “perversion files” that the Boy Scouts of America maintained for decades to identify volunteers accused of child molestation, was named in a lawsuit filed this week by two former Scouts who say they were among his many victims. Filed in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, the suit comes with a little more than a month remaining on a special provision that extended the statute of limitations in Georgia for childhood victims of sexual abuse seeking damages.
The plaintiffs, whose names are being withheld by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution because they were victims of sexual assault, allege the Boy Scouts of America and its Northeast Georgia Council knew of the accusations against Boland dating back to 1961 — several years before they were abused — but did nothing to stop him.
Two Athens churches named as co-defendants — Green Acres Baptist and Beech Haven Baptist — were also aware of the accusations, the suit alleges, but “undertook no actions to protect minor Scouts from Boland’s sexual predations or provide information to the general public.”
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