Two former volunteer firefighters have filed suit against an Anne Arundel County fire company and the county government, claiming that a former fire company president sexually abused them when they were teenage recruits, and that fire officials ignored their pleas for help.
The former president, Louis A. D'Camera, a 26-year member of the Odenton Volunteer Fire Company, repeatedly forced the teens to perform sex acts, strip naked or sit on his lap, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in county Circuit Court. D'Camera committed suicide in 2005 after Baltimore City police said they saw him perform a sex act on an 18-year-old man in a truck and charged him with perverted practice.
According to the complaint, the firefighters disclosed the abuse to their supervisors, who told them to keep quiet. One of the two claims he lost a job opportunity when company members allegedly made defamatory statements during a background check.
Robert L. Rose, current president of the Odenton fire company, and County Attorney Jonathan Hodgson said yesterday that they had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment. An attorney for the plaintiffs also declined to comment as the plaintiffs pursue a legal motion to proceed with the case anonymously.
"They've already suffered a lot of irreparable harm," said attorney Joyce E. Smithey, "and I want to make sure their anonymity is respected."
The allegations are the second black eye for the county's volunteer fire system in the past year. Last week, Kelly T. McColl, a former treasurer of the Riviera Beach Volunteer Fire Company, was ordered to serve a month in jail and repay half of the $50,000 in department funds that he spent on his mortgage, credit-card bills and car payments.
In the wake of the Riviera Beach investigation last year - which also included allegations of sexual misconduct, pornography on station computers and firefighters answering calls after drinking - County Council members and fire officials said such problems were isolated, and that they saw no need to increase oversight of the volunteer companies.
Through a spokesman, Fire Chief David L. Stokes Sr. said that he had "full confidence in the volunteer companies and supports the volunteer system. However, we don't know what's going on involving Odenton and it would be inappropriate for us to comment on the system without knowing exactly what's going on."
