October 31, 2007

Scout’s Dishonor

An HIV-positive former Boy Scout troop leader in Montgomery, Pennsylvania, was sentenced Monday to 16 to 40 years in prison for having unprotected sex with a 14-year-old boy (nbc10.com, 10/31).

David Mayberry, 52, was charged in 2005 after arranging a rendezvous with a then 12-year-old boy he had met online. The HIV status of the boy has not been made public.

The judge ruled that Mayberry’s negligence put the child at risk, with prosecutors labeling him as a “classic child predator.” While Mayberry says that it was the boy, and not he, who initiated sexual contact, allegedly no evidence has surfaced to support this claim.