Daily Mail
November 17, 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2062037/Citadel-president-John-Rosa-apologises-handling-sex-abuse-claim-military-college.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Lieutenant General John Rosa, president of The Citadel military academy, said Tuesday he was ‘profoundly sorry’ the college didn’t report child sexual abuse allegations from 2007 to the police.
The military academy, located in Charleston, South Carolina, released documents on Monday linked to the 2007 internal probe of child abuse allegations brought by a former Citadel summer camper against Louis Neal 'Skip' ReVille, an alumnus and counselor.
'We're profoundly sorry, sorry that we didn't pursue it more. We acted on what we thought was our best information,' Lt Gen Rosa told reporters.
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| Apology: Lt Gen John Rosa was 'sickened' that The Citadel didn't report a 2007 child sex abuse allegation to the police |
'I am saddened and sickened that someone so close has betrayed our trust,' he said.
Lt Gen Rosa said the 2007 abuse complaint came to his office, and that The Citadel's in-house counsel interviewed the young man and his family.
He said that at the time, he did not believe he was required by state law to report child sexual abuse.
'The way I understand the law, in 2006 and 2007 we were not required to mandatorily report,' he said. 'That's certainly no excuse. The law has been changed. Today we are.'
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| Accused: Summer camp counsellor Louis ReVille was arrested on separate charges |
Mandatory reporters under South Carolina law include school teachers, school counselors and school principals.
'Mr. ReVille is responsible for what happened to other victims,' Lt Gen Rosa said.
'By not doing enough, we play a critical role in the events.'
The Citadel disclosed the matter on Saturday in the wake of unrelated allegations of child sexual abuse by a former assistant football coach at Penn State University.
They said they had investigated in 2007 the allegations against the ReVille -- who was arrested last month on separate charges of abusing five boys -- but did not report the matter to police.
ReVille was arrested last month on charges of abusing boys in the Charleston suburb of Mount Pleasant and police have said he has admitted to the crimes, with more charges pending.
ReVille had worked as a counselor at the school's camp for three summers between 2001 and 2003. The Citadel closed its camp in 2006.
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| Not above the law: Lt Gen Rosa says there is 'no excuse' for not reporting the incident at the prestigious military college |
ReVille had also worked elsewhere as a school principal and sports coach.
The Citadel said it was now sharing all its information with police, and had hired a consulting firm to review the college's procedures in the matter and recommend improvements.
In 2007, the former Citadel summer camper said that five years earlier, when he was 14, ReVille had invited him and another camper to his room, showed them pornography on his computer, and that they had masturbated.
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| Shut down: The Citadel closed its summer camp in 2006 |
The documents released by the college include a 160-page interview with the camper, who told The Citadel's attorney Mark Brandenburg that he and other campers used to hang out in ReVille's room 'and then one night, he pulled out a pornographic video and put it in and started masturbating.'
'He encouraged everyone in the room to join in. And they did. And I guess he made an agreement with these kids that he would keep buying them Chinese food and pizza and all these good things and give them privileges if they continued to come to his room,' the interview document said.
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