LITTLE ROCK (AR)
FOX16
June 6, 2018
A civil lawsuit was filed today in Pulaski County Circuit Court against the Boy Scouts of America for sexual abuse.
Today’s suit – filed by former scout William Stevens – alleges that the Plaintiff was sexually abused by his Scoutmaster, Samuel C. Otts, first in Webelos Pack 13 and then in Troop 16, which met at the Salvation Army in Hot Springs.
The suit alleges that Otts sexually abused the plaintiff – including on at least six occasions between approximately 1979 and 1980 when Plaintiff was approximately 10 to 12-years-old. The alleged abuse occurred during Scouting-related meetings, events, outings, and over-night excursions in and around central Arkansas.
The lawsuit alleges claims for negligence and fraud against BSA. Specifically, the suit alleges that, before the plaintiff was abused, the Boy Scouts knew about Scoutmaster Otts’ sexual abuse of other scouts. In fact, the lawsuit alleges that the Boy Scouts removed Otts from Scouting in Georgia for abusing boys, but then allowed him to register as a Scout Leader in Arkansas.
At the center of the victim’s allegations is a secret file kept by the Boy Scouts of America on Otts. The “Perversion file” on Otts – created at the Scouts national headquarters in 1977 – was kept secret at the Boy Scouts’ headquarters until it was ordered to be revealed by a Court in Oregon in 2012.
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