Scoutmaster Sentenced in Molestation Case

A longtime scoutmaster convicted of molesting a 14-year-old Boy Scout was sentenced Friday to 16 years and 8 months in prison.

Additionally, Rodney Stark, 42, who was also a sixth-grade teacher at Black Mountain Middle School in Rancho Penasquitos where he lives, was ordered to pay $1,000 in costs of psychiatric therapy for the victim.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Laura Hammes fined Stark $2,000 before a packed courtroom that included Stark’s minister and friends and the parents of the victim.

Stark was convicted Aug. 3 of all 12 counts of child molestation of the boy and has been in county jail since that verdict.

Stark told the judge Friday that “the truth has not been told,” adding that the victim had lied on the witness stand about the sexual contacts.

“I am totally innocent of these charges brought against me,” Stark said.

The boy’s father told the court that since his son came forward with the allegations, the boy has been “subjected to threats” and they received “nasty phone calls--all sorts of vulgar things” in the middle of the night.

The father said it was difficult for his son to come forward, as Stark was also a friend, but that his son was “a boy of extreme courage.”

Because the boy is continuing to have weekly therapy sessions, the judge ordered Stark to pay for costs of that therapy for the next six months, in addition to the $1,000 already ordered.