Reply #17: Jury verdict hits Boy Scouts with $18.5 million in punitive damages

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- An Oregon jury on Friday found the Boy Scouts of America liable for the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy more than 25 years ago, returning a verdict of $18.5 million in punitive damages.

The plaintiff, Kerry Lewis, now 38, allowed his name to be used publicly during the trial, according to his attorneys. He is among six men suing the Boy Scouts over allegations of sexual abuse.

Attorney Kelly Clark has said that when his clients were boys during the 1980s, the organization knew that at least one of them had been abused by former assistant Scoutmaster Timur Dykes. The 53-year-old convicted sex offender was released from prison in 2005 and paroled until 2013. He could not be reached on Friday.

Clark also alleged that though the scout leader was removed, he was allowed to stay on as a volunteer and the abuse continued. In 1983, Dykes told troop leaders he abused 17 scouts, according to plaintiff's attorneys.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/23/oregon.boy.scout.abuse/index.html?hpt=T1