A former Ridgefield resident who died two years ago is the subject of a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America by 18 former scouts who allege he sexually abused them on camping trips and outings from 1963 to 1975.
A copy of the complaint can be found here.
Donald Dennis, the scoutmaster, was an assistant scoutmaster from 1963 through 1968 and then became scoutmaster until he moved out of Connecticut in 1975, according to an online article in The Hartford Courant which reported he was a local businessman in Ridgefield and also an auxiliary state trooper during that time.
The lawsuit was filed in Stamford Superior Court in 859 pages by attorney Brooke Goff, who is representing all 19 plaintiffs.
Goff said that it was the largest single lawsuit filed against Boy Scouts of America and that one child was molested more than 1,000 times. In addition to the 17 former Scouts, the lawsuit alleges the now-deceased scoutmaster also sexually assaulted two girls.
“Our nationwide search shows it was the largest individual suit involving one scoutmaster,” Goff told the Press in a telephone interview. She said Dennis died at the age of about 84 in October of 2013.
She could not comment on his estate, but said she has no plans to go after his estate for money. She also would not comment on how much she is seeking from the Boy Scouts.
However, she pointed out a sex abuse case in Waterbury resulted in a verdict of $7 million for one scout.
“I represent clients who were allegedly sexually assaulted over 1,000 times by this man, so that’s an indication,” Goff said.
Asked how he was able to do this so long, she said, “ask the Boy Scouts.”
The victims are now in their 50s and early 60s. “In the 1970s, this was not something people talked about like today, that’s one factor,” she said, referring to why they didn’t come forward sooner. Another factor was Mr. Dennis was a powerful man, and if he “threatened you it could have some effect. There’s quite a few issues.”
The lawsuit alleges that the two girls were forced to watch Dennis sexually abuse some of the Scouts in his home. Most of the victims were 11-14 years old, although some were as old as 17.
The boys were members of troops 80, 90 and 172 in Ridgefield, Goff said. The 17 males and two females are suing the national Boy Scouts of America as well as the Fairfield County chapter and the state chapter, the Connecticut Yankee Council.
Hartford Attorney Philip Newbury, who is representing the Boy Scouts of America, said he couldn’t comment on the lawsuit.
Goff said the repeated abuse took place in Dennis’s home, in a church where Scout meetings were held, and on overnight camping trips to Camp Mauwehu in Sherman.
“I have a client who was molested over 1,000 times,” Goff, of The Reinken Law Firm, told the Courant. “There was never any supervision on the camping trips. They just left this guy alone with all of these kids and he would go from tent to tent molesting boys.”
The lawsuit claims that the national and local Boy Scouts groups deliberately ignored signs that the organization was a haven for pedophiles.
In 2012, it was revealed during a lawsuit in Oregon that the national Boy Scouts organization kept secret records of potential pedophiles who were called “ineligible volunteers.” Dennis is not listed, but Goff told The Courant that is because he had not been sued.
The lawsuit alleges that the local Boy Scouts organization allowed Dennis to be alone with groups of boys for hours at a time at Camp Mauwehu with no supervision, failed to put in safeguards to protect the children, and failed to do background checks on Scouts leaders.
The lawsuit also claims that many of the accusers had repressed memories of the attacks that resurfaced when the records of the pedophiles became public in 2012.
Last December, a Waterbury jury awarded an unidentified accuser $7 million in a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America. Court records show that the jury found the national organization negligent and reckless in its failure to take steps to protect the plaintiff from repeated abuse at the hands of his scoutmaster. The Scouts have appealed that verdict.
The jury found that the local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America and the Connecticut Yankee Council were not liable.
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