Former Camp Joslin Counselor Faces Child Sex Abuse Charges
BOSTON (CBS) - A respected summer camp for kids is now the focus of a sexual abuse investigation. A former counselor is accused of sexually assaulting a young boy. Chief Correspondent Joe Shortsleeve says there are troubling questions about what the state knew and why they never told police.
On their website, Camp Joslin, in Charlton, Massachusetts is described as a fun place for kids with diabetes. A place to learn more about their disease while also learning a healthy life style.
But court documents obtained by WBZ paint a different picture.
WBZ-TV's Joe Shortsleeve reports
In 2006, a 16-year-old counselor in training or "C.I.T" allegedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy who lived in the same cabin. The boy told police it was a group activity and that the counselor was, "…encouraging his fellow male younger campers to play "truth or dare" and have them show their genitals and buttocks…"
The victim states the abuse did not end there, continuing after the other boys went to sleep.
The accused counselor is Jonathan Pilsmaker who today is 22-years-old. WBZ caught up with him in his driveway in Boxford where he told us he could not talk. He provided us a phone number for his attorney. His attorney did not return our call.
Camp Joslin is located in Charlton which is located in Worcester County. So the Worcester County District Attorney's office is now handling the investigation. They say Jonathan Pilsmaker is due back in Dudley District Court on April 3rd to be arraigned on the charges of indecent assault and battery on a child.
Joslin Diabetes which owned the camp in 2006 released a statement:
"In 2010 we became aware of a situation of alleged inappropriate touching that transpired in 2006 between a minor camper and the alleged perpetrator, a former camper, also a minor, who was volunteering that summer as a counselor in training. The situation first came to light when the camper communicated details of the incident to an adult affiliated with the camp in the spring of 2010. That adult immediately notified us; we in turn immediately notified the proper authorities and we immediately notified the camper's parents who did not know about the situation."
Pilsmaker faces the possibility of ten years in prison.
The director of Camp Joslin learned of these allegations from a counselor the boy finally confided in, during the spring of 2010. Joslin then notified the State Department of Children and Families.
However local police in Charlton were never notified by the camp or by the state. The Charlton Police Chief tells WBZ they only learned about the alleged sexual abuse after the victim called them in the Fall of 2010 to ask why nothing was being done.
