Sea Scouts Skipper Accused of Molestation

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) - Three members of the Berkeley Sea Scouts Program have accused their scout leader of molesting them from 2001 to 2003, in Alameda County Court. They say skipper Eugene Austin Evans encouraged public masturbation on his boat, kept the ship stocked with pornography, gave the boys massages that devolved into molestation, and sexualized the names of food, such as "penis butter and jelly."

The unnamed plaintiffs say the Boy Scouts of America failed to properly supervise Evans, allowing him to be alone with the scouts on his ship, the SSS Farallon.

The Boy Scouts also knew that Evans had a history and proclivity for molesting scouts, but they still allowed him to lead the Sea Scouts, according to the lawsuit. A former Sea Scout had allegedly sued the same defendants in the mid-1980s, making allegations that "should have made it clear to Defendants that Evans was negligently supervising the Sea Scouts and putting the Sea Scouts at risk and engaging in behavior inappropriate for a Sea Scout leader," the suit claims.

Given that scouts have reported more than one incident of sexual abuse per week for the past two decades, the plaintiffs say it was "reasonably foreseeable" that they might fall prey to a sexual predator.

They say the Boy Scouts failed to give them or their parents any prevention videos or the scout-mandated handbook about protecting children from sexual abuse.

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