Man Sues His Alleged Childhood Molester

A 26-year-old man who says he was molested for five years beginning when he was 12 has filed a lawsuit against Ventura contractor Douglas Muelder seeking punitive damages.

“This is not a case of recovered memory. This is a case of a young man finally developing the courage to come forward and stop this type of conduct,” said Frederick H. Bysshe Jr., an attorney for the victim.

“He had to come to terms with facing the shame and embarrassment of this situation becoming public,” Bysshe said.

Criminal charges against Muelder were dismissed Friday by a Ventura County judge amid questions over the constitutionality of new state laws extending the statute of limitations in such cases.

Muelder denied the 11 charges of oral copulation, sodomy and other sexual assaults.

The civil complaint alleges that Muelder is a “career sexual predator whose victims not only include the plaintiff but many other young boys of a similar age as well.”

The complaint alleges that Muelder would play on the trust of his victims to establish sexual power over them.

Muelder would take the plaintiff “out to dinner at a nice restaurant” and add alcohol to his soft drink when the boy was not looking, the suit contends.

As the sexual incidents increased in severity, the victim turned to drugs and alcohol to numb “his increasing confusion and guilt about participation in this conduct.”

The suit contends that the plaintiff continues to suffer from physical and psychological injuries. The alleged effects include alcohol and drug addiction, severe chronic depression, loss of self-esteem, frequent periodic episodes of anxiety and difficulty in developing trust in relationships.