Two volunteer firefighters who said a former fire company president molested them when they were teenage recruits are suing an Anne Arundel fire company and the county government.
The victims, ages 16 and 19 at the time, said supervisors ignored their complaints that Louis D?Camera, former president of the Odenton Volunteer Fire Company, repeatedly sexually abused them, according to the recent lawsuit filed in Anne Arundel Circuit Court. The abuse allegedly began when the teens joined the department in 2003 and 2004. They are no longer with the department.
The older victim said D?Camera lured him to his Piney Orchard apartment and forced him to strip naked and perform a sex act. The younger victim said D?Camera told him to walk around a room naked and sit on his lap, according to the lawsuit.
D?Camera was a 26-year volunteer and is listed as a “hero” on a MySpace.com page for the Odenton volunteer firefighters.
He committed suicide in July 2005, shortly after Baltimore City police charged him with performing a sex act on an 18-year-old male prostitute in a truck, according to court records.
Robert Rose, current president of the Odenton fire company, is accused in the lawsuit of telling the victims to “get over” what happened because D?Camera was dead.
“I have not seen any official documents, and I?m not going to comment until we meet with our attorney,” Rose said.
According to the lawsuit, D?Camera also assaulted a 17-year-old boy in December 1998 and his sexual misconduct was common knowledge around the department. Anne Arundel County Attorney Jonathan Hodgson declined to comment.
D?Camera?s mother, Charlotte, of Centreville, was aware of the allegations against her son and said, “He is deceased, and I have absolutely no comment.”
Anne Arundel Fire Division Chief Michael Cox said, “It?s active and ongoing litigation, so it would be inappropriate to say anything.”
