Jury Awards Former Boy Scout US$1.4 Million in Sexual Abuse Trial

Teusday after jurors of a Multnomah County Circuit Court ruled the Boy Scouts of America as being negligent and ordered to pay non-economic damages of US$1.4 Million, Kerry Lewis and his mother, Helen Caldwell embrace.

Kerry Lewis, the plantiff in this case is one of six men suing the Boy Scouts of America. Identified as "Jack Doe #4", Lewis testifies uneasily about being an 11 year old Boy Scout alone with his troop leader in 1983. When on the witness stand being asked what happened he commented, "He grabbed by hand. And he slid it up his leg. Into his shorts."

Troop Leader Timir Dykes had already admitted to molesting seventeen boys, but parents weren't notified. In a deposition, Dykes admitted to molesting Kerry Lewis.

But Dykes isn't on trial here. This is a case against the Boy Scouts of America, who kept confidential files on Dykes and thousands of molesters, intended to keep them out of Scouting, but ultimately to keep the incidents quiet. How the Scouts handled the case of the former Scout Leader was at the center of the lawsuit claiming they hid decades of information on abuse to protect their organization.

Kelly Clark, the attorny representing the six men with lawsuits against the Scouts says that in the 1980's the Scouts knew that atleast one of the boys had been abused by Dykes. And though he was removed as a Scout leader, he was allowed to be a volunteer, and the abuse continued.

When Lewis' mother took the stand, she testified that she only found out about Dykes' past when she and her husband recieved a phone call from the Tillamook County Sheriff's Office in July of 1984.

The police stopped Dykes for a broken tail light as he was driving several Scouts, including their son, for a camping trip on the beach. After checking Dykes' records, he was arrested and the parents of the boys were called.

Caldwell testified that after her husband talked to a Morman Bishop who organized the local Scout progam, trying to describe the look on her husband's face by saying, "he was just stricken."

"I had never seen that look on his face before," she said. "He said they knew he had been arrested for this ... that he had this restriction that he wasn't to be in the company of minors and they felt that it was OK because he had repented."

Dykes was commented on as being "larger than life", said Lewis. "I just wanted ot soak up his knowledge."

Caldwell only learned the truth in 2007. When she originally asked if Dykes had sexually abused her son, he denied it. It was when a case surfaced including several Scouts saying they had been abused by Dykes that she was compelled to ask her son again had he been touch inappropriately, which she said he then confirmed.

Nine out of 12 jurors found Boy Scouts of America and its local body liable for 60 percent of the negligent. The jury said the Cascade Pacific Council, which overseas Scouting activities in the region, was 15 percent negligent and the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints 25 percent negligent.

Kayden Nguyen Sues Steven Seagal Over Sex Slave Allegations

Action movie star Steven Seagal is being sued by 23 year old former model, Kayden Nguyen. Nguyen claims that Seagal sexually assaulted her and ultimately escaped his home leaving behind all of her personal belongings.

According to court documents obtained by CBS News, Nguyen was hired by the film star last February as an executive assistant at his production company. It was on her first day that she discovered that she was a replacement for one of the two Russian female "attendants" to provide sexual services for Seagal 24/7.

Nguyen's lawsuit claims that on three occassions Seagal sexually assualted her with forced contact or groping.

Nguyen also claims that for six days she was kept against her will at Seagals secluded Louisiana home, where the Seagal family was allegedly staying. Nguyen says that during her escape she was chased in the night by Seagal who was armed with a flashlight attached to a gun.

In an interview with CBS News' Crimesider, Nguyen's lawyer stated that she didn't call the police because he is the police in Jefferson Parish. In Addition to his movie career, Seagal has been a commissioned deputy for 20 years and is currently commissioned in the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's department. His cable show, "Steve Seagal Lawman," follows his adventures. (Video clip above)

Steven Seagal is being sued for sexual harassment, illegal trafficking of females for sex, failure to prevent sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and false representation about employment. Nguyen is seeking damages in excess of $1-million (U.S.).

For a Moment in Time, Traffickers and Travelers Come Together

"For a moment in time, strangers from around the world come together as travelers."

Flight attendants at a large U.S. airline are training other flight attendants on how to recognize signs of human trafficking. Sandra Fiorini, with 39 years on the job, travels around the world educating other flight attendants and arming them with brochures and braclets containing the human trafficking hotline.

While Fiorini was interviewed by Elizabeth Lee of VOS News, she admitted that it was very easy to spot suspected human trafficking. "Most of us are parents. When you see an instance that's not right and a red flag is raised, especially when there is children involved, you're more in tune with what's happening," she said.

Fiorini also shares one incident she came across that included a day old new born and an 18 year old male with no mother and little preparation for a six hour flight. With cases like this surfacing for some time, local authorities have only started to respond to reports of human trafficking and similar reports in the past 2 years, says Fiorini.

Air routes for traffickers are considered the most expensive, yet it is still the most preferable mode of transportation, says Shahnawaz Khan of Daily Times of Pakistan. He also notes that theres a reported 600 active traffickers in the country with the Coastal Belt from Karachi to Balochistan being frequently used by traffickers to cross into Iran.

Khan reports that the FIA (Federal Investigative Agency, their version of our FBI) has failed to stop human trafficking in varies parts of the country. "Every week a large number of youngsters are smuggled out of Pakistan. More than 600 human traffickers are running their businesses in different parts of the country and are using air, land and sea routes for their activities. Although, most of them are arrested or die while crossing borders of countries including Iran, Turkey, Cyprus and Greek," sources told Daily Times.

With estimates of 12 million people around the world still working under coercion in forced labour, slavery and slavery-like practices, according to the International Labour Organisation, will brochures and braclets from airline attendants be enough? Will Pakistan, which is only about twice the size of California, surpass the US in the number of active traffickers operating inside it's borders? Finally, with pressure on the FBI from NGOs and Capitol Hill, lets hope that our efforts are never considered a failure; or is that already the case?