KTRV Fox 12 Portland Man From Nampa Suing LDS & Boy Scouts
Member Center:
Nampa, Idaho -- A former Nampa teenager is suing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Boy Scouts for $5 million claiming he was sexually abused.
The man who's now 54 years old says it happened decades ago.
Why is the lawsuit being filed now? The Idaho and Oregon statute of limitations allows it, even though the sexual abuse allegedly happened nearly 40 years ago.
Tom Doe's attorney's says his client couldn't continue living in denial.
"There was fondling involved, oral sex, very serious stuff on the continuum, it was not just a light brush or touch," said Oregon plaintiff attorney Kelly Clark.
Things have changed over 40 years at the LDS Nampa second ward, but the painful memories for one Portland professional of his teenage years growing up in Nampa from 1967 to 1970 at the facility remain, as well as the camping trips to Oregon where the bulk of the abuse took place.
That's according to his Oregon attorney Kelly Clark who says, " Tom Doe", not his real name, filed the sexual abuse lawsuit against the LDS church and Ore-Ida Council, Boy Scouts of America.
"My client was a boy 12, 13, 14 years old when he was sexually abused by a fellow named Larren Arnold, who was a Boy Scout troop leader and also a priest youth leader for LDS church," said Clark.
Clark says in 1980, Arnold was convicted of felony sexual abuse on a child in Pocatello and is not named in the lawsuit.
But the claim against what Clark calls the responsible organizations comes after Doe reportedly suffered emotional and relationship problems.
Many years later, allegedly after another adult witness failed to report the abuse.
"My client wasn't waiting, he never planned to tell anybody. He was going to carry this to his grave with him," said Clark.
Within the last few years, Doe came out of denial.
"Under Oregon law, the statute of limitations is told, frozen up till three years after the person recognizes they've been injured. The Idaho statute of limitations works the same way, they give people five years," said Clark.
LDS spokesman Craig Rowe released this statement:
"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."
Doe is seeking $5.1 million dollars for physical, mental and medical harm.
"If he was standing here, he would say I'm angry at the person who did this to me, I'm angry at the people who let this happen," said Clark.
The LDS Church says it hasn't seen the lawsuit and raises serious issues the plaintiff's attorney contacted media before the claim was filed.
We were unable to contact the Boy Scouts of America's national office in Texas for comment.
