Alexis and Orland Birbragher, the parents of a boy who was allegedly sexually assaulted at camp in 2017, have filed a lawsuit against Robin Hood Camp.
According to the lawsuit, their son, who is now 14, was sexually assaulted by three other campers and the camp owner, Rick Littlefield, downplayed the severity of the attack. During his first discussion about the incident with the teen’s parents, he allegedly said it was just minor horseplay. The camp also never reported the attack to the state and released the teens before police could investigate.
According to a Hancock County Sheriff’s Office incident report filed in U.S. District Court, Littlefield told investigators that his attorney said that the incident wasn’t severe enough to require a call to the police.
“It was outside his clothing only,” according to the report written by Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff McFarland.
“The camp’s reputation and financial interests were put before the rights and safety of [the victim] and other campers. The failure to report the crimes caused [the victim] to suffer damages and for the perpetrators to avoid any type of accountability for their egregious conduct,” the lawsuit states.
Christian Foster, the family’s attorney, said that family is asking for $75,000 in damages because that’s the minimum amount needed for a civil lawsuit.
“What my clients want, the monetary thing, is somewhat incidental to them. They want some changes there so that some other kid doesn’t get this treatment,” Foster said. “That’s part of any resolution that we seek, that they [Robin Hood Camp] have the policies and procedures in place to train the staff and enforce” safety regulations.
The camp’s attorney, Paul S. Douglass, said he hopes to have a formal response to the allegations within 10 days.
“You can rest assured that we are denying the substantive allegation that there was an inappropriate response to this complaint voiced by the plaintiffs,” he said.
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