Families of Three Boys Molested by Two Scout Leaders Are Awarded $3.75 Million

A jury awarded $3.75 million in damages to the families of three boys who were molested by Boy Scout leaders in 1988, an attorney said.

The damage verdict came Friday after jurors found the Boy Scouts of America and its Inland Empire chapter negligent in checking the backgrounds of the two leaders, said Ronald Norman, an attorney for the Newport Beach-based law offices of Richard Farnell.

The three Twentynine Palms families filed the suit after the Scout leaders pleaded guilty last year to molestation counts involving several Boy Scouts and a girl. The sex attacks took place in 1988 over a 10-month period.

Scouts’ defense attorney Boyd Jensen argued at trial that incidents of sexual abuse are rare in the Scouts organization. He said he planned to file an appeal.

James Buxton of Twentynine Palms pleaded guilty in 1990 to 18 felony child molestation counts and was sentenced to 42 years in prison. Buxton was Scoutmaster for Wonder Valley’s Boy Scout Troop 341, which has since disbanded.

David Reed, an assistant Scoutmaster, pleaded guilty to 16 felony molestation counts and was sentenced to 38 years in prison.