They Voted To Molest Children
2014-05-01 06:49:21 UTC
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. An ex-scoutmaster has been sentenced to
30 years behind bars after pleading guilty to sexually abusing
three boys while serving as a Keswick Boy Scout troop leader.
David Brian Watkins, 50, accepted a plea deal earlier this year
after originally being indicted on 70 charges surrounding
inappropriate contact with scouts. He plead guilty to 36 counts
in January, avoiding a jury trial, which could have resulted in
multiple life sentences.
Watkins, who led Keswick Troop 1028 from 2002 to 2008, admitted
to abusing male scouts from 2006-2009. He was arrested in
November 2012 after a scout, who was 13 at the time of the
incident and is now an adult, reported him to the police.
On Thursday, Judge Cheryl Higgins sentenced Watkins to ten years
in prison for each of three counts of carnal knowledge of a
child between the ages of 13 and 15. She suspended the remaining
33 charges, which would have placed him behind bars for another
165 years.
Prior to his sentencing, Watkins asked the court for mercy, but
prosecutor Darby Lowe read segments of a report to the court
where Watkins had told police that it was instead the boy who
initiated the sexual contact. According to the Charlottesville
Daily Progress, Watkins stated that it was he who felt that he
had been raped.
Watkins defense attorney Andre Hakes also told that court that
the boys involved consented to having sexual activity with the
Scoutmaster.
These were continuing sexual relationships, and though they
were with children under 18, they were consensual, she stated.
David Watkins is not just these crimes. He is responsible for
them, but they are not all of who he was.
Before issuing her sentence, Higgins expressed a concern that
Watkins and his defense failed to have contrition over his
behavior.
What is especially concerning to the court in this case is the
lack of acknowledgement by the defendant,she stated.
Following his arrest two years ago, a Portland attorney who won
a lawsuit in 2010 lodged by a former Boy Scout who claimed that
he was molested by an assistant scout leader told reporters that
Watkins case reinforces her concerns about the organization.
This says two things about Boy Scouts, attorney Kelly Clark
said. First, there is a serious problem with child abuse in
Scouting. Second, a lot of organizations [like Boy Scouts] put
their own interests ahead of the interests of the kids.
As previously reported, thousands of documents were released in
October 2012 outlining evidence of longstanding and widespread
sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America. The documents, which
the Boy Scouts had fought to keep secret, contained information
collected since shortly after its inception in 1910, including
letters from victims and their parents, as well as memos and
handwritten notes. Some allegations had been substantiated,
while others were yet undetermined.
In all, there were 14,500 pages of evidence released.
http://christiannews.net/2014/04/29/ex-scoutmaster-sentenced-to-
30-years-in-prison-for-homosexual-child-abuse/
30 years behind bars after pleading guilty to sexually abusing
three boys while serving as a Keswick Boy Scout troop leader.
David Brian Watkins, 50, accepted a plea deal earlier this year
after originally being indicted on 70 charges surrounding
inappropriate contact with scouts. He plead guilty to 36 counts
in January, avoiding a jury trial, which could have resulted in
multiple life sentences.
Watkins, who led Keswick Troop 1028 from 2002 to 2008, admitted
to abusing male scouts from 2006-2009. He was arrested in
November 2012 after a scout, who was 13 at the time of the
incident and is now an adult, reported him to the police.
On Thursday, Judge Cheryl Higgins sentenced Watkins to ten years
in prison for each of three counts of carnal knowledge of a
child between the ages of 13 and 15. She suspended the remaining
33 charges, which would have placed him behind bars for another
165 years.
Prior to his sentencing, Watkins asked the court for mercy, but
prosecutor Darby Lowe read segments of a report to the court
where Watkins had told police that it was instead the boy who
initiated the sexual contact. According to the Charlottesville
Daily Progress, Watkins stated that it was he who felt that he
had been raped.
Watkins defense attorney Andre Hakes also told that court that
the boys involved consented to having sexual activity with the
Scoutmaster.
These were continuing sexual relationships, and though they
were with children under 18, they were consensual, she stated.
David Watkins is not just these crimes. He is responsible for
them, but they are not all of who he was.
Before issuing her sentence, Higgins expressed a concern that
Watkins and his defense failed to have contrition over his
behavior.
What is especially concerning to the court in this case is the
lack of acknowledgement by the defendant,she stated.
Following his arrest two years ago, a Portland attorney who won
a lawsuit in 2010 lodged by a former Boy Scout who claimed that
he was molested by an assistant scout leader told reporters that
Watkins case reinforces her concerns about the organization.
This says two things about Boy Scouts, attorney Kelly Clark
said. First, there is a serious problem with child abuse in
Scouting. Second, a lot of organizations [like Boy Scouts] put
their own interests ahead of the interests of the kids.
As previously reported, thousands of documents were released in
October 2012 outlining evidence of longstanding and widespread
sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America. The documents, which
the Boy Scouts had fought to keep secret, contained information
collected since shortly after its inception in 1910, including
letters from victims and their parents, as well as memos and
handwritten notes. Some allegations had been substantiated,
while others were yet undetermined.
In all, there were 14,500 pages of evidence released.
http://christiannews.net/2014/04/29/ex-scoutmaster-sentenced-to-
30-years-in-prison-for-homosexual-child-abuse/