Photo: File/George Frey / Getty Images
MIAMI- A director of 54 years of the American organization Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in Downtown Orlando, Florida, was arrested and charged with sexual abuse of minors, local media reported this Friday.
John Bruce Larsen, district executive of this organization in Orange County, was arrested today and faces “two counts of sexual assault on a minor 12 years, another two for sexual assault on a minor 18 years and four more for lewd abuse of a child under 12 years”, according to the county sheriff’s office, picked up by the WKMG TV channel.
The arrest came after detectives from the Ora County Sheriff’s Office Sex Crimes Section nge obtained an arrest warrant for Larsen for the alleged crimes of abuse.
Detectives believe there could be more victims of abuse allegedly committed by Larsen.
The BSA responded to the accusations and stated in a statement that “the actions allegedly committed by John Larsen are reprehensible and oppose everything representing the Boy Scouts of America”.
The organization added that “as soon as they learned of the accusations and his arrest “they took immediate measures to prohibit him ( to Larsen) participate in ‘Scouting’”.
According to the organization’s website, “Scouting” is a program of “learning and fun, hands-on achievement that puts kids in the middle of the action and prepares them for today and for life.”
According to the report, the parents of two children denounced that their children and a friend suffered They had been sexually abused for years by the accused.
The victims told the investigators have been “repeatedly inappropriately touched,” and one of the minors said Larsen had performed sexual acts on him and touched him since he was eight years old, the T channel picked up18.
Larsen worked daily with children and went to schools to recruit minors to integrate in the Boys Scouts of America, one of the largest youth organizations in the United States.
In 2020, BSA declared bankruptcy in order, according to the NGO itself, to deal with lawsuits for abuse filed against members of that association, in a time when it is facing hundreds of lawsuits for sexual abuse by its affiliates and a drastic reduction in the number of associates.
It may interest you:
– The serious allegations of sexual abuse in the US Boy Scouts that led them to declare bankruptcy
– More than half a century of sexual abuse within the Boy Scouts
– They arrest a child abuse suspect in Santa Ana and seek if there are more victims