On May 18, 2015, the plaintiff, an 11-year-old boy, was at a swim team practice at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, in Pasadena, when he told his mother that an older man inside the facility had sexually molested him. During a police investigation, it was determined that the boy had allegedly been repeatedly sexually abused by Leslie Dittert, who was then 57 years old. It was also determined that the alleged abuse had occurred at various locations inside the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center since December 2014. The plaintiff, acting through his guardians, sued Rose Bowl Aquatics Center and Leslie Dittert. Dittert did not appear at trial, as it is believed that Dittert fled the country shortly after the molestation was discovered in May 2015, and a default judgment was entered against him. The plaintiff will be seeking to an actual default judgment award in the near future. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center had inadequate and/or negligent security and that it failed to adequately monitor and supervise the children under its care, custody and control. Counsel also argued that the aquatics center’s negligence allowed another patron to sexually abuse and molest the boy in the men’s locker room, family changing rooms, and the jacuzzi on multiple occasions over a period of six months. Defense counsel for the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center argued that only Dittert was at fault and that the facility was safe., The plaintiff claimed he was sexually abused and molested several times when he was 11 years old. He alleged that due to the incidents, he suffers from emotional distress and post-traumatic stress disorder. The plaintiff’s experts opined that, in addition to the trauma of the molestation itself, the plaintiff suffered from PTSD and that the plaintiff would likely need a lifetime of therapy. Plaintiff’s counsel noted that although all of the experts agreed that the plaintiff suffered from PTSD after the molestation, there was some disagreement about whether the plaintiff was still suffering from the symptoms of PTSD.
