San Diego

A Boy Scout leader who is also a teacher in Rancho Penasquitos was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on 14 counts of child molestation.

Rodney Fred Stark, 41, was bound over to Superior Court by Municipal Judge Charles G. Rogers after a preliminary hearing in which a 14-year-old Scout said Stark molested him on camp-outs during the past several years.

Rogers said the boy’s testimony was compelling, as was a secretly taped conversation played in court in which Stark told the boy “it won’t happen anymore.”

Additionally, Rogers found that, “because (Stark) was a Boy Scout leader and a friend, he occupied a position of special trust.” That means he must serve jail time if convicted, the judge said.

Seven charges of lewd conduct with a minor were added after the 14-year-old testified this week that he recalled another incident of abuse.

The boy, now a ninth-grader, testified earlier that the molestations began about three years ago, soon after he joined the Scouts.

Stark has been a Boy Scout leader for nearly 20 years, and a number of the children who were in court to testify spoke with him before the proceedings and during breaks. Stark is on a leave of absence from both the Scouts and his position as a sixth-grade teacher at Black Mountain Middle School in Rancho Penasquitos.

The judge ordered that Stark remain free on $15,000 bail as long as he avoids contact with Boy Scouts and the 14-year-old.