A 25 year old camp counselor from Australia was arrested at the San Antonio Airport. It appears as though the counselor was on his way home. It was alleged that the Australian sexually abused two boys at a camp in Hunt Texas, while acting as a summer counselor. The camp employed the counselor through an exchange program. The camp asserted that the man had a work visa and had undergone a criminal background check.
When employing someone from a foreign country it is important to consider what a criminal background check is likely to uncover. If the background check only looks for someone’s history in the United States then the background check is worthless and should not provide any protection to the camp in a civil lawsuit. Also, some countries do not keep extensive records and/or have methods by which defendant’s can seal their records.
It would be important for an attorney representing a victim of a sexual assault, wherein the employee of the accused asserts that they did a background check, to determine what type of background check was conducted to ensure that the effort was reasonable under the circumstances. It would be particularly important to see if the foreign records were researched and what record keeping is done in the foreign country. One must also consider what other protections for the young campers were maintained and implemented by the camp.
It is tragic when the people who are entrusted to watch over children become the abusers. It is important that a full investigation be conducted to prevent these attacks.
