Former Delaware Boy Scout leader charged with serial child sexual abuse
Generic Boy Scouts of America photograph for possible future use, photographed Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, in Chicago, Ill. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
DOVER, Del. - A former Boy Scout leader in Delaware has been arrested and charged with the serial sexual abuse of a boy more than 30 years ago, authorities said Friday.
Newark police said Gary Matta, 66, was arrested at his home Thursday without incident.
Authorities said Newark police were notified by the Boy Scouts of America in early 2020 of abusive sexual activity that occurred in the late 1980s between a Scout leader and a Scout. In February of that same year, the BSA sought bankruptcy protection in Delaware as it faced a nationwide onslaught of child sexual abuse lawsuits.
Police said their investigation determined that the alleged victim joined the Boy Scouts in 1989, when he was 12, and that Matta was his Scout leader.
Police said the boy began visiting Matta’s Newark home regularly and that because of a family situation, Matta became the boy's guardian and the boy moved into his home. Matta allegedly sexually assaulted the boy on numerous occasions between 1989 and 1992.
"Estimates of the number of offenses are in the hundreds," police said in a statement.
Matta is charged with four counts of first-degree unlawful sexual intercourse, unlawful sexual contact and indecent exposure. He was being held in custody with bail set at $201,500 cash. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for May 1.
It was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer yet who could speak on his behalf.
Matta was arrested one day after the Boy Scouts’ $2.4 billion bankruptcy reorganization plan formally took effect. The plan allows the Texas-based organization to keep operating while compensating tens of thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as children. More than 80,000 men filed claims in the bankruptcy case.