(Charlottesville, Va) Ex-scoutmaster pleads guilty to 36 felony sex crimes

The (Charlottesville) Daily Progress ^ | January 22, 2014 | K Burnell Evans

[Zakeet]

An ex-scoutmaster who admitted to molesting his son’s teenage friends and fellow troop members for years at his Keswick home pleaded guilty to 36 felony sex crimes Wednesday in Albemarle County Circuit Court.

David Brian Watkins, now 50, entered into an agreement with prosecutors that shields him from additional local or federal charges and calls for an active term of 30 years and five months in prison.

The agreement “provides closure for … very promising young men who can now get on with their lives,” Assistant Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Darby Lowe said after the hearing. “The young men would have had to come through and testify about very, very difficult and horrendous offenses against them.”

Watkins faced more than 70 charges after a wave of indictments handed down in August, nearly a year after the first victim walked into the county police department to report years of abuse at the hands of his former troop leader. Watkins was arrested a week later, on Nov. 28, 2012.

[Zakeet]

Homosexuals serving as boy scout leaders ... what could possibly go wrong?

[ken5050]

But just think..if he were a schoolteacher, his union would be fighting to get him a severance package...

[Eagles6]

These sick POS aren't Scout leaders they are homosexuals who get involved with these groups so they have access to little boys.

Just like the Catholic "priests". They were never priests seeking a vocation, they were homosexuals that infiltrated the priesthood looking for victims.

[boop]

Gee, why does George Takei keep pushing for gay scoutmasters?

Fresh meat?

If I was gay, I'd come out strongly condemning such low-lifes.

"This is NOT what we are, gays are not molesters. We are disgusted by such behavior."

But, no.

The silence of "gay spokesmen" is deafening.

[Gene Eric]

One of the most egregious, depraved betrayals that can be inflicted upon children.

[sushiman]

Damn J**s !

[DYngbld]

Thing is he was a nice guy and a good scout master. I found out about this a while ago, while it was still under investigation, and honesty we were shocked. This is one of the reasons my Son quit scouts. First it was this guy (and he is not the only one) then BSA dropped the ban on gay scouts. My Son, who loved Scouts and was well on his way to Eagle, decided enough is enough and asked if he could be done with scouts.

[Arthur McGowan]

If scoutmasters were allowed to marry, this would never happen.

The Boy Scouts must be teaching some doctrine that causes men to prey on boys.

[kingattax]

can you imagine what a badge for that would look like ?

[fella]

How many of his victims have been forced into the gay community? And how many have their heads all screwed up for the rest of their life.

[kingattax]

as a child abuser, his prison experience certainly will not be lengthy or particularly pleasant.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

Prison? For molesting young boys? We have a serious problem in this country.

Prison does not come close to justice.

This piece of trash should be tortured then murdered.

[veritas2002]

“Ex- scoutmaster” As in The Boy Scouts of America? Let’s spell it out for the homophiles and for those of us who believe that homosexuality is perverse.

[Tai_Chung]

Cruel and unusual punishments for cruel and unusual crimes.

[quicksilver123]

Watkins was my son’s scoutmaster. Nice guy? I always found him to be ... off. Didn’t trust him, didn’t let my kid spend much unsupervised time with the guy, and made unannounced visits to camping trips more than once. That turned out to not be the problem area. He would invite kids to spend time or sleepover his house for “movie nights”. In those cases, there was never a second adult present. No thanks.

I remember one time my son came hime and innocently told us that “scoutmaster Dave” had been asking him if things were ok at home, if he was getting along with his parents. There was no reason to ask this. Our son was (and is) a very happy, well adjusted kid from a good loving home. He was probing. I fear Watkins may have been successful with this technique when he used it on boys from single parent households.

The other adults who were troop leaders were fine men, very conscientious, the kind of leaders you would want, and several of them tried to get rid of him, but some of the mothers and apparently the regional council didn’t see it.

Dodged a bullet, for sure...

[VRW Conspirator]

Read a book on stories of experienced cops a while ago. The gist of the cops who handle predators is just as you pointed out. These predators make up their mind at a very early age that they like young ones. They will build their entire careers around their sick desires to end up in a place of authority over their victims, coaches, priests, teachers, youth ministers, etc. They are very patient and will build their "web" with social camouflage (i.e. married with kids) and look like pillars of society on the surface.

The one thing I remember from one cop is that they often are seen as "cool" and "hip". They will have the latest gadgets (X-Box, sports cars, ski-dos, etc.) and often seem like saviors to single moms with "troubled" kids. It is all part of the web. The cop also said that almost every time these predators get arrested, there will be many people around him who will say it is not true, they can't believe it, etc.

I point this out so that others will be on the look out for the "cool" coach, not the hard line drill sergeant type and the "hip" youth pastor, not the boring pious one.

[VRW Conspirator]

see post 16