CLAYTON, Mo. (CN) - A former federal prosecutor who was convicted of molesting five teen-age boys has been ordered to pay two of them $30 million. Eric Tolen, 49, is serving a 65-year prison sentence.
Tolen was convicted of 36 counts of statutory sodomy and one count of witness tampering in his 2008 trial.
Tolen's victims, who were 13 to 15 years old, told jurors that Tolen offered them motorcycles, bicycles or cigarettes in exchange for sex.
Two of his victims, now 19, filed a civil complaint in 2010, claiming Tolen had molested them from October 2006 to April 2007. On Jan. 28 this year, St. Louis County Judge Michael T. Jamison awarded each victim $14.5 million in compensatory damages and $520,000 in punitive damages.
Lawyers for the victims told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that they declined to immediately announce the award, one of the largest personal injury awards ever in St. Louis County, because they are going after Tolen's assets.
A second civil complaint has been filed against Tolen's mother, claiming he transferred his assets to her after his conviction, the Post-Dispatch reported.
Tolen was fired from the U.S. Attorney's Office in 1999. Most recently, he had a private practice in suburban St. Louis.
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