In Maryland, Anne Arundel County and the Odenton Volunteer Fire Company have agreed to pay $175,000 (and reasonable legal fees) to two men who claim that a former president of the volunteer fire department molested them. The county and the fire company, however, continue to deny the allegations that Louis D’Camera sexually abused the two men and that other supervisors covered up the incidents. An attorney for the county says the settlement is to avoid the expense of further litigation that could result from the ex-volunteer firefighters’ Maryland sex abuse lawsuit that was filed in US District Court in Baltimore last year.
The two men say they were 16 and 19 when the alleged abuse incidents started. The ex-firefighters claim that D’Camera made them take off their clothes and sit on his lap on a number of occasions while he berated them about their poor performance at school and at the station. The older victim, who is now 25, says the former fire department president forced him to masturbate and touched him inappropriately at least 12 times over a 2- year period. D’Camera killed himself in 2005 after police found him with a male prostitute.
The plaintiffs say they reported the alleged Anne Arundel County sex abuse incidents to supervisors who rebuffed them. The older victim said he reported what was happening to him as early as late 2003 or early 2004, and on more than one occasion, but no one contacted police until right before D’Camera’s suicide. The supervisors claim they didn’t feel they could report the incidents until Baltimore City Police caught D’Camera with the hooker.
Both victims say they didn’t welcome D’Camera’s advances but they were intimidated by him and allowed the incidents to happen. $125,000 of the settlement will go to the older victim, while the younger victim will receive $50,000—from Anne Arundel County’s self-insurance fund.
Sex Abuse Lawsuits
Sex abuse is an act of sexual violence that causes great personal injury to its victims. In addition to physical injuries that can occur from rape, sodomy, or other forms of sexual assault, there are also the emotional scars and trauma that inevitably result and can destroy the victim’s life.
If you or someone you love is the victim of sexual abuse, you may have grounds for filing a Maryland sexual abuse lawsuit.
County settles sex abuse lawsuit, Hometown Annapolis, May 24, 2009
Former Maryland Volunteer Firefighters File Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against Anne Arundel County Government and a Local Fire Company, MarylandAccidentLawBlog.com, January 25, 2008
Related Web Resources:
Odenton Volunteer Fire Company
Anne Arundel County, Maryland