Teen Files Suit Against Boy Scouts Of America

An 18-year-old Bexar County man has filed a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America and its local affiliate, the Alamo Area Council, accusing his former assitant scoutmaster of molesting him.
The unidentified man said James Hiatt sexually abused him in 2004 and 2005 when he was a member of Troop 41 in Converse, Texas.

He is seeking unspecified damages for the abuse, which he said happened while he was a minor.
As a result of the abuse, Hiatt was convicted by a Bexar County jury in 2008 for aggravated sexual assault of a child and is currently in prison.

The suit alleges that for decades prior to the sexual abuse, the Boy Scouts of America and the Alamo Scouts Council "have known that Scouting attracted child molesters into the ranks of scoutmasters, assitant scoutmasters and adult volunteers" and that the organizations have kept this a secret from sponsoring organizations, troop committees, scouts and their families, according to Pat Maloney, the teen's attorney.

Maloney said the suit alleges the BSA has maintained "confidential or ineligible volunteer files on adult leaders who had been exluded from scouting for molesting boy scouts," and that despite this knowledge, the BSA did not "institute, implement or enforce adequate policies to protect Scouts from being sexually abused by their adult leaders."

To view the full petition, click here (PDF).