No Charges Filed in Youth Camp Sex Case

Citing a lack of evidence, prosecutors said Monday that they have decided not to file charges against the director of a youth camp in Thousand Oaks who was arrested last month on suspicion of sex crimes.

The decision ends a three-month investigation involving 29-year-old William Allen Clemens of Simi Valley, who has been on administrative leave as director of the Young Set Club since Dec. 15.

Clemens turned himself in Feb. 24 for booking on suspicion of three felony counts of child abuse, two misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure and one misdemeanor count of child annoying. He posted $20,000 bail and has divided his time since then between his parents’ home in Washington state and his Simi Valley residence.

While Clemens was unavailable for comment Monday, his lawyer described the announcement by the district attorney as a victory for justice.

“I think Mr. Clemens feels vindicated,” said attorney Philip Remington Dunn of Thousand Oaks. “We’d like to thank the D.A.’s office for taking the time and effort to investigate this and making sure that justice was done.”

Clemens’ arraignment, originally continued from March 3, had been scheduled for Wednesday.

“There was not enough evidence to file or obtain a conviction,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Patricia Murphy, who heads the unit on sexual assault and family protection. “Criminally, nothing will happen to him.”

Sheriff’s detectives began investigating Clemens after a parent complained in December to camp officials. Detectives talked to about 50 parents, children and staff at the camp, at 400 Rolling Oaks Drive.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Paige, who oversaw the work by detectives who brought the case to prosecutors last month, said the department would not comment on the district attorney’s decision.

“We’ll wait to see why the D.A. made this decision,” Paige said.

The announcement not to file charges follows a period of weeks during which investigators and Dunn publicly disagreed over the strength of evidence against Clemens.

Sheriff’s Det. Kent Adlof, the lead investigator in the case, had said his evidence was solid. Dunn recently claimed that two of the three alleged victims--all male, one an adult--were not credible.

One of the juveniles made the allegations after he was rejected for a camp counselor’s position at the club, Dunn said last week.

Dunn said the evidence he presented, including a statement from the 22-year-old’s uncle who said the man made things up for attention, was “overwhelming.”

Murphy wouldn’t say what role credibility played in her decision to reject charges in the case, citing only a lack of evidence.

“These cases are very hard to prove, more so than most,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the youth camp’s parent organization, the American Camping Assn. in Campbell, Calif., said she was not sure whether Clemens would keep his job.

“I can’t say,” said Susan Blake, director of administration for the association. “I need to find out more before we make a decision.”

Dunn said that if his client did not have the resources to hire a private lawyer and pay for two private investigators who spent a month looking into the case, charges probably would have been filed, based on evidence from sheriff’s detectives.

“It would have been his word against the sheriff’s,” Dunn said. “That’s the real story here. It’s sad, but it’s true.”

Clemens is waiting to hear from Blake whether he can return to work, Dunn said.

“I think he would love to return to do the work he did before,” the attorney said. “But I also think anybody would want to take a couple days off to let something like this soak in.”