HomeCommentaryBRIEF: Boy Scouts, LDS church being sued for sexual assaults in Idaho

BRIEF: Boy Scouts, LDS church being sued for sexual assaults in Idaho

By: Tracy Simmons

Date:

June 25, 2013

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According to the Associated Press four men are suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in federal court because they claim they were sexually abused during Boy Scout of America functions in Idaho.

Three of the men say they were in troops sponsored by the church and were abused by scout leaders in the early 1980s. The fourth man says he was in a troop sponsored by the Elks Club in Lewiston when he was abused in the early 1970s.

A Boy Scouts spokesman declined to comment on the suit, according to the AP. An LDS spokesman told reporters that it's difficult to provide information on cases from decades ago when the plaintiffs aren't named.

Tracy Simmons

Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of FāVS.News, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Associate Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.

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