HAMILTON TOWNSHIP - Ohio child abuse investigators arrived Friday at Camp Butterworth, four days after a group of young campers accused their 19-year-old counselor of sexual misconduct.
Warren County authorities asked the state attorney general's Rapid Response Team to help interview counselors and campers from the Girl Scouts camp. There, at least 10 girls reported that a counselor fondled them during a camp session that began July 6.
The team is composed of lawyers who specialize in prosecuting child abuse cases and investigators with expertise in tracking down clues about alleged instances of sexual misconduct, state officials said.
The members will aid Hamilton Township Police in talking to campers - from Southeast Indiana to Clermont County - and counselors who might have information about the Camp Butterworth case.
"There are 20 to 26 children who probably need to be interviewed, if not more," Warren County Prosecutor Tim Oliver said Friday. "There are 15 or more counselors who may need to be interviewed. So it's a rather large investigation."
No criminal charges have been filed against the counselor, Camp Butterworth or the Girl Scouts.
The 24 girls whom the accused counselor, Namsembiaeli Nduma, supervised returned to their homes by Wednesday, parents said. The 19-year-old foreign exchange student apparently left New York that night for her native Tanzania - a report prosecutors were still working to confirm Friday.
"We're trying to locate this lady, and we're working with INS (the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service) to do that," said Mr. Oliver, who awaited airline records documenting Ms. Nduma's departure. "Until INS verifies it, we're going to assume she's still in the country."
Angry parents questioned why Girl Scout administrators
allowed Ms. Nduma to board a bus Monday for New York before they informed police and Warren County Children Services of the campers' allegations. The 10- and 11-year-olds told camp leaders Ms. Nduma rubbed their breasts and buttocks, a father of one of the girls said.
The Sycamore Township man said his 11-year-old daughter was among a handful of girls who told camp leaders Monday around 9:30 a.m. about the alleged abuse. Police and social workers learned of the girls' complaints 11 hours later - after Ms. Nduma left the Tristate.
"We are deeply concerned about the failure of the Girl Scout camp to promptly contact Children Services," Mr. Oliver said. Authorities' three-pronged investigation focuses on finding Ms. Nduma, learning whether anything happened between her and the girls, and determining why the notification delay occurred, he said.
"They really, really dragged their tails," the Sycamore Township girl's mother said. "They should have called the police right away."
The Enquirer is not naming the parents to protect the daughter's identity.
Executive Director Barbara Bonifas of the Great Rivers Girl Scout Council, which operates the camp, wrote to parents Thursday, assuring them: "Our top priority is the safety and security of campers, and that has governed all our actions."
Great Rivers public relations director Ginny Hizer declined Friday to comment on the 11-hour lapse between the girls' report and Warren County authorities' notification.
But a news release she provided The Enquirer states: "Following a brief internal investigation, the council contacted Warren County Human Services and Hamilton Township police."
The statement also expresses Girl Scout leaders' regrets about sending Ms. Nduma immediately to New York, as requested by Camp Counselors USA, the California organization through which she was hired: "In retrospect, the council recognizes that it would have been advisable to . . . turn the counselor over to local authorities, and regrets this mistake in judgment."
Warren County Children Services spokeswoman Patti Jacobs said the "internal investigation," however brief, contradicted training that camp counselors received June 11, a week after Ms. Nduma arrived in the Tristate.
To encourage prompt reporting to experienced caseworkers, "I do tell them . . . don't do these investigations on their own," Ms. Jacobs said.
Ideally, caseworkers would interview the alleged victims first, then approach the accused perpetrator, she added.
"I didn't say, 'Don't put them on a bus and send them away,' " Ms. Jacobs recalled. "But I did say it's important that we speak to the alleged perpetrator."
The investigation extends to girls in several Tristate communities, including Middletown, Hamilton, Loveland and Williamsburg, parents and prosecutors said.
"We want to talk to anybody who has relevant information, regardless of whether they were under (Ms. Nduma's) care or not," Mr. Oliver said.
Harry Prestanski, vice president and general manager of Guthrie - Mayes Public Relations in Cincinnati, said local media accounts have downplayed Ms. Nduma's "excellent credentials" and overplayed the allegations.
"I don't want to ever discourage a child from coming forward," said Mr. Prestanski, whose firm Camp Counselors USA hired to assist with media inquiries. "I'd rather see it covered after the investigation is done instead of speculating up front."
Previous stories
GIRLS SAFE, CAMP TELLS PARENTS July 19, 1997
SCOUT LEADERS' POOR REACTION NO GOOD DEED Cliff Radel column, July 18, 1997
COUNSELOR RETURNING TO TANZANIA July 17, 1997
CAMP AIDE SUSPECTED OF ABUSE July 16, 1997
