Abuse Allegations Ruinous, Day Camp’s Director Says

THOUSAND OAKS —  The vindication rings hollow for Bill Clemens. He says his life is ruined.

Fighting allegations of child molestation has left the 29-year-old director of the Young Set Club day camp in Thousand Oaks financially devastated, physically drained and emotionally destroyed, he says.

He is also deeply bitter toward the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department detectives who arrested him last month on suspicion of molesting two boys at the camp and exposing himself to an adult male. The Ventura County district attorney’s office on Monday decided not to file charges in the case.

“I put my trust in the police to clear my name, but now I wouldn’t trust them to save my dog,” said Clemens, who sat down Tuesday for his first interview since the allegations were made public in mid-January. “I felt the truth would come out eventually. I’m floored it was ever allowed to go this far.”

Clemens maintains his innocence and says police overlooked key information in the case. But investigators and prosecutors stress that only a lack of evidence, not an exoneration, prevented their filing charges.

“We still feel there is a crime there, but we just can’t prove it,” said Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Paige. “We felt we went over all the evidence available to us, and I supported our submission of the case to the D.A.’s office.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Patricia Murphy said Sheriff’s Dets. Kent Adlof and Al Miramontes “absolutely” should have brought the case to prosecutors.

“They did what they had to do,” said Murphy, who heads the sexual assault and family protection unit. “These were very serious charges.

“My advice to Mr. Clemens would be to keep his mouth shut, because he might find himself in a position he doesn’t want to be in,” Murphy said. “He should go about his business and not be talking to the press.”

Inklings of Trouble

It all began Dec. 15, Clemens said. Into his office walked four camp officials, who informed him that there had been a complaint from a minor. They gave him no details, Clemens said.

“They took my keys and escorted me to the door,” he said. “I was shocked. An hour before, everything had been peaches and cream, and then I was being told I might not have a job.”

He didn’t know for nearly a month what the complaint was about. Clemens said he repeatedly asked camp administrators to tell him what was going on, but they never did.

“I got no cooperation from them,” he said. “I found out that you’re on your own when something like this happens to you.” Camp officials declined to comment.

After sitting in his condominium for a week, Clemens went to a family Christmas gathering in Washington state, where his parents live.

“But there was no celebrating,” he said. “The holidays just came and went.”

He said he got an inkling of what was happening when a 16-year-old boy who had formerly attended the camp called with angry accusations of sexual abuse. During the conversation, Clemens learned a 22-year-old man also had made allegations against him.

“Everything was starting to come together. I finally figured out who was involved,” he said.

The full story emerged in an affidavit filed by investigators to obtain an arrest warrant in February: The 16-year-old and another boy had accused him of molestation and the 22-year-old had accused him of indecent exposure.

Pursuing the case over several weeks, investigators conducted about 50 interviews with parents, staff members and children at the camp.

On Feb. 24, Clemens turned himself in at the Ventura County Jail, where he was booked on suspicion of three counts of felony child molestation, two counts of misdemeanor indecent exposure and one count of misdemeanor child annoying.

Clemens’ lawyer told him he could face 12 to 18 years in prison if convicted.

“You look at my record, and I have one traffic ticket,” Clemens said. “And I was going to spend up to 18 years in jail for something I didn’t do?”

Soon after his arrest, Clemens’ lawyer publicly raised questions about the strength of the evidence against him.

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The lawyer, Philip Remington Dunn of Thousand Oaks, said that one of the juveniles had made his allegations after he was rejected as a camp counselor.

Dunn also said he had evidence the 22-year-old man was prone to making things up.

“The detectives were made aware of his past pattern [of fabricating stories] early on,” Clemens said. “But it seemed like they put on blinders. All the tools were there for the police to use to find out the truth.”

Dunn and Clemens contend prosecutors delayed filing charges--postponing his arraignment from March 3 to March 18--because of those doubts.

“They are very capable people,” Clemens said. “The moment they got my case, they asked for a continuance because they knew something was terribly wrong.”

Murphy disputes that, saying she asked for the continuance because she believed more information had to be obtained before she could consider filing charges.

And in the end, questions of credibility were not what prompted the decision not to file charges, Murphy said--only a lack of evidence.

Future Plans in Doubt

When the decision not to prosecute was announced Monday, Clemens said he was “very happy,” but any excitement was tempered by the knowledge that the charges would stay on his record.

Clemens, who has a degree from Moorpark College and a certificate in child care, believes the allegations will prohibit him from reentering the child-care field and may rule out his plans to pursue a career in teaching.

“I don’t know what to do,” Clemens said. “I never saw myself doing anything other than this type of work.”

Although the law wouldn’t prohibit a public school from hiring someone who had been arrested on suspicion of--but not charged with--molestation, Clemens would have to explain himself to the state credentialing commission, said Roger Wolfertz, deputy general counsel for the California Department of Education.

Clemens could be hired by a private school--without needing a teaching credential--if the school’s officials felt sympathetic to his case, Wolfertz said.

Clemens, who has been director of the year-round youth camp since 1996, is waiting to hear from officials at the Young Set Club regarding his job status, but he expects to move from Ventura County and start a new life.

He doesn’t foresee suing the county, because “I don’t know what would be gained by that,” he said.

“I don’t have any fight left in me. This has put my life into such disarray, I don’t even know the days of the week anymore.”

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The experience has left him financially devastated. On unpaid leave during the three-month investigation, he cashed in his retirement plan, sold his condo for $15,000 less than he believes it’s worth and lived off accrued vacation and sick-day pay to stay afloat and cover the costs of an attorney.

“I was tapping into everything,” he said. “I have nothing left.”

Clemens also said he lost 15 pounds during the ordeal, and must take medication to calm his nerves.

Clemens, who began as a camp counselor at the Young Set Club in 1992, said the experience has taught him several things.

“For years and years, I heard about how men in this system were susceptible. I guess I was thinking this couldn’t happen to me,” he said.

Also, Clemens said he expects a chilling effect on day-to-day interactions between male day-care workers at the Young Set Club and the roughly 150 children, ranging in age from 5 to 12, who attend the camp.

“I know of some staff that are running for cover right now because of this,” he said. “I think the program is really going to suffer.”