Carson City Board of Supervisors approve third settlement regarding Camp Carson molestation

During the Thursday meeting of the Carson City Board of Supervisors, a $125,000 settlement demand was approved by the Board in regards to the alleged molestation of a five-year-old child who was, at the time, enrolled at Camp Carson.

This is the third settlement the city has paid in regards to the the molestation allegations.

Almost exactly one year ago on Nov. 21, 2019, the Board agreed to a settlement of $1.25 million to four families whose children were sexually abused by a 15-year-old volunteer.

Three of the four children and their families had previously settled the first lawsuit in the amount of $255,000; however, the fourth plaintiff received significantly more abuse than the other three children. The fourth plaintiff was awarded the $1.25 million after the initial demand had been for $6 million.

On Thursday, the city agreed to pay an additional $125,000 to the new minor plaintiff, who was involved in the same abuse as the other plaintiffs.

The lawsuits allege that the 15-year-old volunteer perpetrated over thirty instances of sexual assault against minor children during a field trip to the bowling alley on July 21, 2016, as well as multiple sexual assaults at the Carson City Community Center and the Carson City Aquatic Center. The assaults took place between July 2016 and August 2016.

The lawsuit alleges that some of these assaults were done in “plain sight of Camp Carson staff and Gold Dust West employees.” It also alleges that the day after an incident of sexual assault took place, a parent called to report that the 15-year-old volunteer had “checked” her daughter’s underpants to see if she had an accident at the bowling alley.

The lawsuit alleges that the Parks and Recreation Program Supervisor merely counseled the volunteer about the incident and allowed him to continue to work as a volunteer, and failed to report the incident to authorities, going against Nevada’s mandatory reporting laws.

The lawsuit also alleges that the volunteer had a “long history of dangerous behavior” that was recorded within the Parks and Recreation file, and therefore he should have never been allowed to hold a volunteer position. These behaviors included choking, punching and kicking other children, inappropriately touching other children, kicking counselors, and threatening to kill another child. These occurred while the volunteer was enrolled with the Carson City Parks and Recreation program, between the years of 2006 and 2013.

The lawsuit states that in addition to these allegations, another volunteer had inappropriately touched a child roughly one year before these incidences took place, and then Carson City Manager Nick Marano stated he was “amazed” that the program did not take to heart the lesson that “our primary purpose as staff is to ensure a safe program for the children. Period.”

The lawsuit asked for $600,000 to be awarded to the plaintiff and their family. On Thursday, Carson City District Attorney Jason Woodbury advised the Board to approve the settlement offer of $125,000. The Board did so.

Supervisor Brad Bonkowski said, "We want to express how deeply sorry we are," and that upon becoming aware of what happened, the city made program changes. He also stated that the city was committed to continuing safety improvements of all its programming.

For more information on the previous lawsuits, click here.