Jury Awards $10M Verdict, Finds Pasadena Rose Bowl Aquatics Center Responsible in Molestation of Young Boy

– Courtesy photo / Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Jurors deliberated less than two days before finding the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center negligent

By Terry Miller

A jury on Monday awarded $10 million to a boy who was molested dozens of times at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena, finding against the center on all claims.

Following a three-week trial in a Van Nuys courthouse, jurors found the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center bore responsibility for $7.1 million of the verdict, with the remaining $2.9 million owed by the man who is accused of molesting the young boy.

“This case has always been about two things, protecting children and making sure that no child is ever sexually assaulted again at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center,” said Stephen G. Larson, the family’s attorney. “The family is grateful that the jury has correctly held the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center accountable for its careless security and its negligence which allowed a predator to molest an 11-year-old boy numerous times in the Center’s showers, locker rooms, and in a Jacuzzi over a period of six months.”

“The Rose Bowl Aquatics Center tried to keep this sexual assault case quiet, and even argued that it is not responsible for the safety of children at the facility. It is the family’s sincere hope that this verdict will prompt the Center to implement new measures to protect children at its facility from abuse,” Larson said.

In May 2015, an 11-year-old boy who participated at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center as part of its swim team told his mother that he was molested by a man that day in the Jacuzzi. Upon questioning by police, the boy revealed that the assailant had sexually assaulted him scores of times over several months at the Center, and that the molestations ranged from fondling to oral copulation.

According to police reports from the case, staff at the Center told officers that they repeatedly observed a man in his late 50s who hardly ever swam or dove at the facility but instead loitered in areas where children were swimming; describing him in internal communications as a “creep” and “suspicious.” Staff also spotted the man, who had been going to the aquatics center since 2010, in the Jacuzzi with different children but did not remove him from the center or report him to the authorities. Instead, they allowed the man to be near unsupervised children in the Jacuzzis, family changing rooms, locker rooms and showers.

When police arrested the suspect, they found a kidnapping kit – a backpack containing zip ties, duct tape, rope and binoculars – in his car in the Center’s parking lot.

During the investigation, police discovered the assailant had been a former Boy Scout troop leader who had previously abused at least one other child, and possibly more. Police also discovered an arsenal of guns at his house. The suspect had fled the country before the police executed search warrants at his residence.

Despite the repeated sexual assault of a minor on their premises, the Center has done little to change its security protocols. Instead, the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center continues to advertise itself as a safe place for children and families, and the Pasadena Unified School District sends all of its 3rd graders to the Center to learn water safety and swimming, putting these children at risk.

The boy and his family sued the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center for negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress, among other causes of action.

Pasadena Independent received the following statement from Kurt Knop, CEO of RBAC:

“We continue to believe that the person responsible for this heinous criminal act is Mr. Leslie Adam Dittert who has fled the country.

“We are deeply saddened for the plaintiff and his family about this tragic event.

“Safety has always been of paramount importance to us and remains so. The Center in its efforts to continually improve will review its training staffing and physical layout. 

“We firmly believe that the Center remains a safe place and we have a zero tolerance policy for any behavior that causes harm to anyone.

“We respectfully disagree with the jury’s decision and will be reviewing this decision very carefully.”

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