Two Portland-area men filed an $8.5 million lawsuit Wednesday against the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts, bringing to eight the number of former Scouts alleging sexual abuse by former troop and church leader Timur Van Dykes.

The eight men are seeking a total of more than $33 million in damages.

The lawsuits, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, contend the abuse began in the early 1980s, ended in the early ’90s and involved Boy Scout Troops 478 and 719, both of which were sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Boy Scouts has been part of the Mormon church’s official men’s program since 1913.

Six of the alleged victims agreed earlier this month to enter talks to settle their lawsuits but failed to reach a resolution.

Dykes, a registered sex offender, lives in Southwest Portland. He has been convicted of at least 26 sex crimes since 1983.

The state sex offender registry lists him as a predator who targets infant males and boys ages 7 to 15, warning that he "has used intimidation and threats to maintain victim compliance."

He is one of about 50 Oregon leaders expelled by the Boy Scouts for sex abuse between 1970 and 1990 and more than 5,100 leaders expelled nationally since 1946, according to confidential Boy Scouts files and summaries obtained by The Oregonian.

Under Oregon’s flexible statute of limitations, victims of sexual abuse can bring cases once they’ve discovered how the abuse affected them, sometimes decades after the actual crimes.

In Oregon, the Boy Scouts faces at least four more pending civil cases involving allegations of child sex abuse.

The first criminal sex-abuse charges against Dykes came in 1983, when two boys told Portland police that the Scout leader molested them. Dykes pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree sexual abuse and was sentenced to probation.

The lawsuits contend that the Mormon church discovered in the early 1980s that Dykes had molested a Scout but failed to thoroughly investigate and question Dykes, failed to report abuse to law enforcement, failed to provide mental health services to victims and failed to remove Dykes from contact with children.

"We believe that the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts allowed Timur Dykes to stay in contact with children for years after his first arrest and conviction for child sex abuse," said plaintiff attorney Kelly Clark.

But Steve English, attorney for the Mormon church, said the two new alleged victims were never members of the church and that Dykes had been expelled from the church nearly a decade before the alleged abuse in the late 1980s.

The Boy Scouts Cascade Pacific Council declined to comment on the case.

Dykes has been a source of legal troubles for the Boy Scouts before. Three lawsuits alleging abuse filed in 1987 resulted in undisclosed settlements. The mother of one of Dykes’ earliest alleged victims told The Oregonian in 1995 that abuse of her son contributed to his suicide.

Peter Zuckerman: 503-294-5919; peterzuckerman@ news.oregonian.com

Two Portland-area men filed an $8.5 million lawsuit Wednesday against the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts, bringing to eight the number of former Scouts alleging sexual abuse by former troop and church leader Timur Van Dykes.

The eight men are seeking a total of more than $33 million in damages.

The lawsuits, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, contend the abuse began in the early 1980s, ended in the early ’90s and involved Boy Scout Troops 478 and 719, both of which were sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Boy Scouts has been part of the Mormon church’s official men’s program since 1913.

Six of the alleged victims agreed earlier this month to enter talks to settle their lawsuits but failed to reach a resolution.

Dykes, a registered sex offender, lives in Southwest Portland. He has been convicted of at least 26 sex crimes since 1983.

The state sex offender registry lists him as a predator who targets infant males and boys ages 7 to 15, warning that he "has used intimidation and threats to maintain victim compliance."

He is one of about 50 Oregon leaders expelled by the Boy Scouts for sex abuse between 1970 and 1990 and more than 5,100 leaders expelled nationally since 1946, according to confidential Boy Scouts files and summaries obtained by The Oregonian.

Under Oregon’s flexible statute of limitations, victims of sexual abuse can bring cases once they’ve discovered how the abuse affected them, sometimes decades after the actual crimes.

In Oregon, the Boy Scouts faces at least four more pending civil cases involving allegations of child sex abuse.

The first criminal sex-abuse charges against Dykes came in 1983, when two boys told Portland police that the Scout leader molested them. Dykes pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree sexual abuse and was sentenced to probation.

The lawsuits contend that the Mormon church discovered in the early 1980s that Dykes had molested a Scout but failed to thoroughly investigate and question Dykes, failed to report abuse to law enforcement, failed to provide mental health services to victims and failed to remove Dykes from contact with children.

"We believe that the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts allowed Timur Dykes to stay in contact with children for years after his first arrest and conviction for child sex abuse," said plaintiff attorney Kelly Clark.

But Steve English, attorney for the Mormon church, said the two new alleged victims were never members of the church and that Dykes had been expelled from the church nearly a decade before the alleged abuse in the late 1980s.

The Boy Scouts Cascade Pacific Council declined to comment on the case.

Dykes has been a source of legal troubles for the Boy Scouts before. Three lawsuits alleging abuse filed in 1987 resulted in undisclosed settlements. The mother of one of Dykes’ earliest alleged victims told The Oregonian in 1995 that abuse of her son contributed to his suicide.

Peter Zuckerman: 503-294-5919; peterzuckerman@ news.oregonian.com

Two Portland men filed an $8.5 million lawsuit today against the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts, bringing to eight the total number of former Boy Scouts alleging sexual abuse by Timur Van Dykes, who was a church and scout leader in the 1980s and early 90s.

The lawsuit contends that Timur Van Dykes molested Boy Scouts in Troop 719, which was supervised by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dykes, a registered sex offender who now lives in Southwest Portland, has been convicted of at least 26 sex crimes since 1983.

Together, the pending abuse cases filed in Multnomah County Court against the scouts and the church seek $33.5 million.

Six of the alleged victims agreed earlier this month to enter talks to settle their lawsuits but failed to reach a resolution.

At least a dozen Oregon child-abuse cases are pending against the Boy Scouts.

– Peter Zuckerman; peterzuckerman@news.oregonian.com

Six Portland men agreed to enter talks this week to settle their $25 million lawsuit against the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts of America over alleged sexual abuse.

The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Portland contends that in the 1980s and 1990s Timur Van Dykes molested Boy Scouts in Troop 719, which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supervised. Since 1983, Dykes, 51, has been convicted of at least 26 sex crimes.

"The amazing thing about this case is the extent to which these institutions continued to allow him access to kids, even after he had acknowledged sexually abusing boys and, indeed, after he had been convicted for doing so," said Portland attorney Kelly Clark, who represents the plaintiffs.

Attorney Steve English, who represents the Mormon Church, said that perspective is inaccurate.

"The church worked cooperatively with the Portland police, who learned of this abuse before the church did, and the church suspended Mr. Dykes’ privileges as a church member within two weeks of learning of this abuse," English said.

The Cascade Pacific Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Portland did not return phone calls.

Dykes, who lives in Southwest Portland, is one of about 50 Oregon leaders expelled by the Boy Scouts for sex abuse between 1970 and 1990, according to confidential Boy Scout files obtained by The Oregonian. The number of Boy Scout leaders ejected in Oregon eclipses the number of abusive priests identified statewide in the recent Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal.

Under Oregon’s flexible statute of limitations, victims of sexual abuse can bring cases once they’ve discovered how the abuse affected them, sometimes decades after the actual crimes.

Dykes has been a source of legal troubles for the Boy Scouts before. Three lawsuits alleging abuse filed in 1987 resulted in undisclosed settlements. The mother of one of Dykes’ earliest alleged victims told The Oregonian in 1995 that abuse of her son contributed to his suicide.

Peter Zuckerman: 503-294-5919; peterzuckerman@ news.oregonian.com

Settlement hearings are planned this week for a $25 million lawsuit that claims the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts failed to protect six boys from a man who was eventually convicted of sex abuse.

U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan and retired Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure plan hearings Wednesday through Friday. They presided over the settlement of a similar lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland last year.

The hearings this week are on a suit that alleges abuse in the 1980s and early ’90s by Timur Van Dykes, a former Sunday school teacher who was also a Scout leader.

Dykes, 52, has been convicted of at least 26 sex crimes since 1983. He is one of about 50 Oregon leaders expelled by the Boy Scouts for sex abuse between 1970 and 1990 and more than 5,100 leaders expelled nationally since 1946.

In February of this year, the Bucks County Courier Times carried two articles about Dave Sicoli, former priest stationed at Immaculate Conception parish in Levittown. Sicoli was one of the many priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who had been named as a sexual predator in the grand jury report on the Philadelphia Archdiocese.

One article was written by Matt Coughlin, who reported that Sicoli had been defrocked by the Vatican.

This could only have happened if the evidence against Sicoli clearly and unambiguously found him guilty of the sexual abuses of which he had been accused. The second, by Ben Finley, brought attention to the fact that Sicoli has a home somewhere in Sea Isle, N.J., yet his neighbors have no access to knowledge about Sicoli’s past.

Both articles made reference to the statute of limitations as the reason for this dreadful reality. What seems to be apparent is the need to support legislation in Harrisburg (House Bill 1574), which has been in committee. But why the holdup? Why has this bill allowing for civil action against these predators not found unanimous support?

I suggest that the best answer can be found in a newly published book, “Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children,” written by Marci Hamilton and published by Cambridge University Press. A lawyer and constitutional expert, Hamilton tackles the issue head-on but in language that is clearly written and not full of unnecessary legalese.

She argues that the legal system has obstinately persisted in supporting sexual predators at the expense of victimized children. For Hamilton, the solution is simple. The statute of limitations for sexual offenses against children must be eliminated. But simple is not apparent, especially to those with a vested interest in keeping those victimized out of the courtroom.

According to Hamilton, many in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church have actively and successfully lobbied in numerous states to defeat legislation that even opens a window of opportunity for victims. Yet, she is not guilty of Church bashing. She acknowledges the role that the Church has played in this arena but points to the insurance lobbyists as the primary, albeit quieter, barrier.

So too have teacher unions, some defense attorneys, and finally the many of us who might fall into the category of uninformed public, been complicit in looking out for something or someone other than children who need a voice.

Of the many arguments that Hamilton proposes, one that I support wholeheartedly is those who have been sexually abused are not likely to report their abuse until adulthood and the rate of nondisclosure is estimated to be nearly 90 percent. In my own research I found that over 25 percent of those abused by a priest did not disclose until after that age of 49. Of those abused by someone other than a priest, 28 percent had not disclosed until the ages of 40-49.

The benefits of abolishing the statute of limitations seem obvious. I agree with Hamilton. We will have better knowledge of those among us who have abused children. More children will have greater protection. Finally, members of the clergy are by no means the primary perpetrators of sexual abuse. No organization is exempt and sexual abuse is most often committed by a family member. We must take a stand for the civil rights of our children.

As Hamilton documented, in California, where the statute “window” was enacted, only a small fraction of claims were found to be false and 300 new abusers (by some estimates) were identified. Surely this is worth the cost. Are we in Pennsylvania, like Californians, willing to take a stand in favor of our children? I encourage you to read Hamilton’s book and, more importantly, write a letter in support of House Bill 1574.

Diane Shea, Langhorne, is an adjunct professor at Holy Family University and is a former director of residential services for Elwyn, Inc.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/322-05032008-1528634.html

By WILLIAM McCALL
Associated Press writer

By RODGER NICHOLS
of The Dalles Chronicle

     PORTLAND — The statute of limitations on a sex abuse claim against a government employee in Oregon may depend on when the victim realizes the government was involved, not when the actual abuse occurred.

     The Oregon Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday the city of The Dalles could not claim the statute began running when a member of the police Explorer Scout program was sexually abused by a police officer in 1996.

     The boy was 16 at the time, but he did not disclose the abuse until 2001, after learning that another police officer was under investigation for serving alcohol to a minor.

     The victim was then called to testify at a grand jury hearing on the officer who abused him, James Tannehill, and realized he had a claim against the city.

     Kelly Clark, attorney for the victim, said the ruling “closes one of the loopholes where the government goes to hide when a government employee abuses a kid.”

     Clark said government agencies have argued the statute of limitations begins when the abuse occurs, but that is “totally unrealistic for any child sex abuse survivor,” especially when the offender is typically somebody in authority.

     “If you have a government coverup, the clock begins to run when you discover the government had a role in the abuse,” Clark said, “so it’s really a big deal.”

     The victim, identified only as “T.R.,” filed a negligence and sexual battery claim against The Dalles in June 2002. The suit was amended in July 2003 and a federal civil rights suit was added in April 2004.

     The city argued the two-year statute of limitations had already expired because the abuse occurred in 1996, but a trial judge rejected the argument.

     A civil court agreed, awarding $81,260 in damages under the federal civil rights law and a supplemental judgment awarding plaintiff $261,701.92 in costs and attorney fees.

     The Oregon Court of Appeals, however, ruled in 2006 in favor of the city, concluding that “at the time of the abuse itself, plaintiff had sufficient information” to determine he had a claim against the city.

     The Oregon Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and sent the case back to that court for reconsideration.

     In an opinion by Justice Martha L. Walters, the Supreme Court ruled the question about the sexual abuse claim should have gone to a jury to decide.

     The court noted the Explorer Scout program in The Dalles was created and operated by the city in cooperation with the Boy Scouts of America to introduce teenagers to law enforcement and involve them in police operations.

     The Boy Scouts had advised the city about its policies and procedures to prevent child sexual abuse, the court said, but the city delegated the authority to run the program to Tannehill without training him for the position and also failed to create a required oversight committee.

     The victim was 16 and living in foster care when Tannehill approached him and suggested he enroll in the Explorer program. After regularly spending time alone with the victim, on and off duty, and serving him alcohol, Tannehill abused the teen, the court said.

     The court said the teen was confused and asked two other city police officers about Tannehill serving him alcohol and whether he had an interest in boys. “One just laughed, the other told him he didn’t want to talk about it,” Walters wrote.

     The victim broke off contact, graduated early from high school and joined the Army. He was 22 when his grandmother read him a newspaper article that reported the Oregon State Police had charged another police officer in The Dalles with serving alcohol to a minor.

     The victim contacted state police investigators, told them about the abuse by Tannehill, and was called before a grand jury, where he “suspected for the first time that department members, and perhaps even command staff, may have permitted the sexual abuse that Tannehill had committed and failed to protect Explorers, including himself, against such abuse,” Walters wrote.

     The court said the indifference shown by the two fellow officers the victim questioned about Tannehill “discouraged any further inquiry.”

     The court also noted the victim did not discover until later that prosecutors and state police suspected the problem was more widespread than a single officer and that the city may have failed in its duty to protect him and other Explorer Scout members.

     As a result, the Supreme Court ruled that a jury could have found the victim had filed his federal civil rights claim in a timely manner, and the trial judge correctly rejected the city’s argument the statute of limitations had run.

     Tannehill, a sergeant, and another officer, Lance Kirk, were convicted in 2001 of abusing boys.

     The Dalles City Attorney Gene Parker said Friday morning that the city had received a fax late Thursday from attorney Robert Franz outlining the Supreme Court decision. Franz represented Northland Insurance Company through the trial and appeal process. Northland represented the city at the time the incident occurred.

     “I’ll probably need to talk to Mr. Franz and find out what can be the next step,” Parker said, “whether there’s going to be any further attempts to consider any further appeals, or if the judgment now just stands. I would assume at this point that if the judgment stands, we would be covered by our insurance policy and they would end up paying a judgment.”

The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The statute of limitations on a sex abuse claim against a government employee in Oregon may depend on when the victim realizes the government was involved, not when the actual abuse occurred.

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday the city of The Dalles could not claim the statute began running when a member of the police Explorer Scout program was sexually abused by a police officer in 1996.

The boy was 16 at the time, but he did not disclose the abuse until 2001, after learning that another police officer was under investigation for serving alcohol to a minor.

The victim was then called to testify at a grand jury hearing on the officer who abused him, James Tannehill, and realized he had a claim against the city.

Kelly Clark, attorney for the victim, said the ruling "closes one of the loopholes where the government goes to hide when a government employee abuses a kid."

Clark said government agencies have argued the statute of limitations begins when the abuse occurs, but that is "totally unrealistic for any child sex abuse survivor," especially when the offender is typically somebody in authority.

"If you have a government coverup, the clock begins to run when you discover the government had a role in the abuse," Clark said, "so it’s really a big deal."

The victim filed a negligence and sexual battery claim against The Dalles in June 2002, and then added a federal civil rights claim in July 2003.

The city argued the two-year statute of limitations had already expired because the abuse occurred in 1996, but a trial judge rejected the argument.

The Oregon Court of Appeals, however, ruled in favor of the city, concluding that "at the time of the abuse itself, plaintiff had sufficient information" to determine he had a claim against the city.

The Oregon Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and sent the case back to that court for reconsideration.

In an opinion by Justice Martha L. Walters, the Supreme Court ruled the question about the sexual abuse claim should have gone to a jury to decide.

The court noted the Explorer Scout program in The Dalles was created and operated by the city in cooperation with the Boy Scouts of America to introduce teenagers to law enforcement and involve them in police operations.

The Boy Scouts had advised the city about its policies and procedures to prevent child sexual abuse, the court said, but the city delegated the authority to run the program to Tannehill without training him for the position and also failed to create a required oversight committee.

The victim was 16 and living in foster care when Tannehill approached him and suggested he enroll in the Explorer program. After regularly spending time alone with the victim, on and off duty, and serving him alcohol, Tannehill abused the teen, the court said.

The court said the teen was confused and asked two other city police officers about Tannehill serving him alcohol and whether he had an interest in boys. "One just laughed, the other told him he didn’t want to talk about it," Walters wrote.

The victim broke off contact, graduated early from high school and joined the Army. He was 22 when his grandmother read him a newspaper article that reported the Oregon State Police had charged another police officer in The Dalles with serving alcohol to a minor.

The victim contacted state police investigators, told them about the abuse by Tannehill, and was called before a grand jury, where he "suspected for the first time that department members, and perhaps even command staff, may have permitted the sexual abuse that Tannehill had committed and failed to protect Explorers, including himself, against such abuse," Walters wrote.

The court said the indifference shown by the two fellow officers the victim questioned about Tannehill "discouraged any further inquiry."

The court also noted the victim did not discover until later that prosecutors and state police suspected the problem was more widespread than a single officer and that the city may have failed in its duty to protect him and other Explorer Scout members.

As a result, the Supreme Court ruled that a jury could have found the victim had filed his federal civil rights claim in a timely manner, and the trial judge correctly rejected the city’s argument the statute of limitations had run.

Tannehill, a sergeant, and another officer were convicted in 2001 of abusing boys.

___

On the Net:

Oregon Judicial Department, Supreme Court ruling: http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/S054071.htm

VALE  – The attorney for the Portland man suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America said his client is typical of many who come forward later in life with sexual abuse lawsuits aimed at individuals employed or formerly employed by high-profile entities.

Portland attorney Kelly Clark, a child sex abuse attorney and former Oregon state legislator, filed a lawsuit in Malheur County Circuit Court Feb. 21 on behalf of a Portland-area man seeking nearly $5 million in general damages from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America.

The man, referred to in court documents only as Tom Doe, asserts he experienced abuse from an LDS youth leader and Boy Scout troop master named Larren Arnold, as a youth in Nampa.

Clark, an attorney with the Portland law firm O’Donnell, Clark and Crew LLP, said based on his experience working with sex abuse victim claims, he absolutely believes Doe’s allegations are true and the lawsuit warranted.

“Because I’ve done a number of these cases over the years, I have a system of evaluating both the client and the case, and this met all the criteria,” Clark said, adding when a potential client comes to him with a case, the first thing he does is establish its plausibility based on the background he is provided.

“It’s all about credibility,” he said.

The criteria he said he uses in his validity test essentially determines whether the potential client knows what a child abuse survivor is supposed to know, including places or activities where the abuse occurred, when it happened, the relationship of the victim and the abuser, why the abuse was kept inside for so long and whether the story holds together.

“I want the client to be credible, the witnesses credible. I want some corroboration,” Clark said.  

He said his client was able to provide that information for him, and he is confident there is a case to be made.

Kelly said filing the lawsuit was just the first stage, and from beginning to conclusion, the legal process could take 12 to 18 months.

Much more work has to be done, including locating witnesses and determining whether they are willing to testify, if the case will proceed in court, he said.

The biggest challenge, Clark said, is proving to the defendants the sex abuse took place.

Once it is established, however, settlements are pretty easily reached with the defendants, such as church organizations.

“They want to try to do the right thing in these cases once they’re convinced that it’s true,” Clark said.

When asked by the Argus Observer for a comment, Kim Farah, a public relations representative from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, e-mailed a prepared statement from Craig Rowe, LDS spokesman for Idaho.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a zero tolerance policy for child abuse and does all it can to help victims and report abuse. It will seriously investigate these decades’ old allegations,” Rowe said in the statement, which is the same statement Rowe provided to the media Feb. 21, when the story first broke.

While Clark has experience representing victims when the accuser is an institution of trust, he said he doesn’t know if the number of cases against the Mormon Church and/or Mormon Church/Boy Scouts will reach the levels it has in lawsuits and settlements involving the Roman Catholic Church.

“That’s the question,” he said. “I don’t know the answer.”

While he does not know what the statistics will end up being regarding sex abuse in the LDS church, he believes they may be more than people might think.

“I don’t think we’ll find the amount of documented cover-ups as we did in the Catholic Church,” Clark said, adding the Catholic Church is unusual in that church leaders record nearly everything.

That is not true in the Mormon church, he said, so he doesn’t think an institutional cover-up will ever be proven.

Clark did say, however, his client hopes people who have been sexually abused in the past take courage in this case and seek help through counseling treatment, even if they decide they don’t want to pursue a lawsuit.

One of the things he said that bothers him about this case is the tie between the LDS Church and the Boy Scouts, both which are well-respected, and rightfully-so, Clark said.

“The LDS Church is the largest sponsor of Boy Scout troops than any other organization in the United States,” Clark said.

According to the LDS Scouting Area Relationships Committee, National Capital Area Council Web site, LDS members have been members of the Boy Scouts of America for more than 90 years and sponsor more than 34,000 units and 399,260 members nationwide.

Clark explained, in the LDS church, becoming a Boy Scout troop master is more than a volunteer or recreational activity, it is considered a “church calling.”

That is why, Clark said, these cases are so tragic because the victims are affected physically, emotionally and spiritually.

As a result of Doe’s own abuse, Clark said, his client is very angry at the LDS Church, the Boy Scouts and Arnold, the youth leader/troop master Doe asserts abused him, about what happened to him and what he carries inside.

Clark said one of the most frequent questions asked in this case is why his client, who in this case is now 53, waited so long to come forward with something that supposedly took place when the person was a youth.

That, however, he said is typical in those cases, and one of the determining factors of whether a claim is valid is whether the client has remembered, acknowledged or spoken about his or her trauma.

Victims, such as Doe, instead “compartmentalize” the memories of the sex abuse, blocking the trauma out of day-to-day thoughts, which is why the trauma often resurfaces decades later, Clark said.

Clark said his client did not wait all these years to come forward because he did not even recognize mentally he was abused until a series of events, including intimacy and trust issues in a relationship, anger and an episode of depression triggered the memories of the abuse last year.

Clark said, at that point, his client began to understand why he had certain problems in his life and sought help.

He said his client remains in therapy, and both Doe and his therapist will testify in court.

According to the lawsuit documents, Doe has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder since seeking help.

Clark said his client is outwardly extroverted but suffers from trust, intimacy and authority issues.

His client’s psychological problems with authority have not led to a criminal record, however, he said.

“He’s actually a high-functioning professional, highly intelligent, highly articulate, successful in a number of ways,” Clark said. “He just has inner demons he’s been carrying around for decades.”