40/29 has a report from Hearst Television over legal action by a coalition of attorneys alleging sexual abuse of Boy Scouts and coverup of that abuse, including in Arkansas.

The attorneys filed in California on behalf of eight clients but claim representation of more than 1,500 men.

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The complaint accuses the Boy Scouts of America of “rampant sexual abuse at the hands of BSA scoutmasters and other scout leaders” and “efforts to cover up the extensive evidence in its files documenting that abuse.”

 

“BSA created, maintained, and promoted programs that attracted pedophiles by the tens of thousands and gave these predators unsupervised access, and therefore opportunities, to prey on boys who had been entrusted to BSA’s custody and care,” the lawsuit alleges. “BSA’s programs were tailor-made for pedophiles to forge trusting relationships with boys of their desired age ranges, to exploit their positions of authority and control over the boys to commit horrific acts of sexual abuse, and to discourage boys from reporting that abuse by enforcing BSA’s core values of obedience and loyalty to scout leaders.”

Many men have not filed complaints because of the statute of limitations. The database on which the report is based is said to include 19 cases of abuse of Arkansas boys aged 10 to 15 between 1963 and 1999.

Several such lawsuits have already been filed in Arkansas. Little Rock lawyer Joshua Gillispie represents six men who claim molestation by a Hot Springs Scout leader who’d been allowed to work with Scouts in Arkansas despite being ruled out in Georgia.

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