Scout leader says parents in Ore. sex abuse trial were negligent for allowing boys’ sleepovers

Scout exec in Ore. abuse trial: Parents negligent

PORTLAND, Ore. — The president of the Boy Scouts council for the Portland area has testified that parents of some Scouts were negligent for allowing sleepovers that led to sex abuse.

Eugene Grant told a jury Thursday in a $29 million sex abuse lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America and its Cascade Pacific Council that parents should not have allowed boys to stay overnight with a single man at his apartment.

The man, Timur Dykes, has admitted to molesting a victim who filed the lawsuit. The assistant Scoutmaster was convicted of other sex abuse dating to the early 1980s.

Grant says he did not know Dykes, who regularly invited boys to stay overnight with him by offering them games, exotic pets and a chance to play in his apartment swimming pool.