CHICAGO, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Fifteen men filed a lawsuit Wednesday charging the Boy Scouts allowed a Chicago teacher to serve as a leader while he was molesting children.
The plaintiffs say they were in Thomas Hacker's troop in Oak Lawn, Ill., and suffered sexual abuse when they were 10 to 12 years old, WBBM-TV, Chicago, reported. Hacker, now 76, was arrested in 1988 and is serving a 100-year prison term.
The lawsuit filed in Chicago names the Boy Scouts of America and the BSA Chicago Area Council as defendants.
Chris Hurley, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Hacker was still a troop leader when he was arrested. He said the Boy Scouts ignored his activities and his victims are still emotionally scarred by the abuse.
Hacker, who taught in the Chicago Public Schools, was convicted of numerous acts of abuse in the Chicago area and in Kendall County to the southwest of the city.
