PORTLAND, Ore. — The Boy Scouts of America failed to protect four Oregon youths from a Scouting leader even though the organization knew of sex abuse allegations against him in California, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Four men who say they were abused by Steven T. Hill in 1976 and 1977 have filed suit against the organization and its Portland branch. They said they were 12 to 15 years old at the time of the abuse.
Prison interviews with Hill and communications between the Oregon and California Boy Scouts organizations in 1975 or early 1976 show that the Oregon organization knew Hill was a threat but did nothing to stop him.
The suit alleges Hill abused a Scout in California in 1975, a matter that didn’t lead to a criminal charge until 1977. The allegation was brought to the Scouts, the local police and the U.S. Navy, where Hill was enlisted, the suit said.
When Hill moved to Portland, a Scout executive from California told a counterpart in Oregon that Hill had been accused, the suit alleges, but Hill was nonetheless transferred.
Both executives had died by the time the plaintiffs’ attorney, Kelly Clark, was taking depositions for the case.
“Defendants had a duty to disclose known threats to the health and safety of the minors involved with their organization,” the suit said.
The Scouts said Wednesday that the organization sympathizes with victims of abuse and took actions to stop Hill from being associated with the Scouts.
“Since criminal charges were filed against Hill in 1977, he never returned to Scouting. After becoming aware of Steven Hill’s crimes, Scouting took action to prevent Hill from being associated with Scouting, including filing a lawsuit,” the organization said in a statement.
The suit seeks $5 million per victim.
In September, four other former Scouts filed a similar suit naming Hill as their abuser.
Hill, now 63, could not be reached for comment.
He was released from prison last year after a 20-year sentence on unrelated sex-abuse charges. His last address was a halfway house in downtown Portland. The halfway house declined to say whether Hill had lived there.
Clark, the plaintiff’s attorney, won an $18.5 million judgment against the Scouts in 2010. A jury decided that the organization was negligent for allowing former assistant Scoutmaster Timur Dykes to associate with Scouts after Dykes admitted to a Scouts official in 1983 that he had molested 17 boys.
Clark said he has identified “at least a dozen” convicted or suspected child molesters who were in Scouts leadership positions in Oregon between 1965 and 1985. Some have died or were never prosecuted.
Clark said it was unclear what became of the 1977 charges against Hill.
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