Lawsuit: YMCA knew counselors sexually abused campers

A man who says he was sexually abused as a child by a counselor at Camp Seymour in the 1970s has sued the YMCA, alleging that the organization knew children were being abused there and failed to stop it.

“Put simply, Camp Seymour was a sexual cauldron where camp counselors and the camp director were using their positions and the camp facilities to prey on young children and young teenagers,” the lawsuit says.

The 49-year-old man, identified by the initials P.N. in the lawsuit, believes he was abused the summer between his first and second grade year at the Key Peninsula camp, which would have been about 1976.

The YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties, which runs the camp, said in a statement Friday that it does not comment on legal issues but is aware of the allegations and has practices in place today to keep children safe — such as background checks of staff, volunteers and members.

“We are heartbroken that any child may have suffered harm while in our care, no matter how long ago,” the statement said.

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The complaint, which seeks unspecified damages, was filed Aug. 9 in Pierce County Superior Court.

It and other court records give this account of Camp Seymour in the 1970s:

The YMCA was aware that two counselors were sexually abusing young boys, but the camp director at the time kept recommending they be rehired.

The camp director also was “taking advantage of the camp to groom young, teenage, female campers for sex and was having sex simultaneously with 13- and 14-year-old junior counselors and 15-, 16- and 17-year-old counselors,” the lawsuit says.

A former camp counselor, who worked at Camp Seymour the summers of 1971 through 1980, said he reported his suspicions about two other counselors to leaders of the camp and the YMCA, including to the late head of the YMCA, John Morgan.

The counselor said he did not know whether Morgan took any action but that the counselors he reported stayed on at the camp.

In an affidavit he signed in 1983 as part of an earlier lawsuit against the YMCA, the counselor said he remembered telling Morgan about an incident in about 1975 in which one of the other counselors was found in a sleeping bag with a small boy.

He remembered telling Morgan about “what I viewed as unusual touching and handling of the boy” by another counselor, the affidavit says.

He also remembered a time in 1975 that a man brought a gun to Camp Seymour and said he was going to kill a counselor for molesting his son.

“Evidence in this case reveals that the YMCA chose to ignore clear evidence from parents and counselors that children were being molested,” P.N.’s lawsuit says.

The 1983 affidavit is among the court records of a 2007 lawsuit against the YMCA in which seven other men alleged they were sexually abused at the camp in the 1970s. They settled with the YMCA in 2009 under terms that weren’t disclosed.

One of the alleged abusers, Randy Tollefson, later was convicted of sex crimes against children in Pierce and King counties, including against some of the men who sued in 2007.

He was in prison for 16 years and then was sent to the state’s center for sexually violent predators on McNeil Island.

P.N.’s lawsuit says he didn’t remember the name of the counselor who abused him but believed he would be able to recognize his face.

“My client feels strongly about obtaining some form of justice,” said his attorney, Lincoln Beauregard.

The YMCA said in its statement that today it requires background checks for all staff members and volunteers and screens members and guests through a local and national sex-offender registry when they enter YMCA facilities.

The YMCA membership database also is screened for sex offenders each month via a national database, and YMCA staff look at those results each quarter.

Staff and volunteers are not allowed to be alone with a child, the organization said, and are trained to identify and report signs of abuse.

Click here to read the full story on the Tacoma News Tribune.

Tacoma News Tribune