Ex-Queens Rep Accused Of Sexual Assault At Boy Scout Camp: Report

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Former U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, who represented Bayside and parts of Long Island, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old boy at a Boy Scout camp upstate in the 1960s, according to a lawsuit filed last week.

Ackerman was 23 years old and a director at the Ten Mile River Camp when the victim, identified only as John Doe, says Ackerman drove him to a secluded spot and assaulted him, the Associated Press reported.

The lawsuit says Ackerman "attempted to force Mr. Doe to perform oral sex on him and forcefully performed oral sex on Mr. Doe" in late 1966, according to the AP.

A lawyer representing the 15-term Congressman denied the accusations in a statement emailed to the AP; he said he would try to get the case dismissed.

"In over 30 years of public service, there has never been any accusation of this kind or indeed of any wrongdoing in the Congressman's career," attorney Oscar Michelen wrote.

In an interview with the New York Post, the lawyer added that Ackerman "denies any such incident took place."

The suit also names a local Boy Scouts of America chapter as a defendant, calling Ackerman a "known predator," according to news reports in the AP and the Post.

"Our allegation is that the Boy Scouts either knew or should have known that Ackerman would do this, or would have the propensity to do this, that’s what we intend to do by and through discovery," the accuser's lawyer, Jordan Merson, told the Post.

The Boy Scouts told the AP in a statement that there was no record of any allegations against Ackerman in a database used to screen volunteers.

Survivors of childhood sexual abuse have flooded New York courts with lawsuits since the newly-passed Child Victims Act opened a one-year window that allows them to bring cases precluded by statutes of limitations or notice of claim requirements.

The suit against Ackerman is among hundreds filed across the state since the one-year window started Aug. 14.

Ackerman represented parts of Long Island and west and northeastern Queens in Congress from 1983 to the beginning of 2013, when he retired after finishing his fifteenth term in office. He had served on the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial and Foreign Affairs Committees.

He previously served as a New York State Senator and started a weekly newspaper, The Flushing Tribune — which became The Queens Tribune — according to The New York Times.