MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A former Boy Scouts troop leader is facing a sexual battery charge in Miami-Dade County after police said a man came forward to report that he abused him as a young boy five decades ago, police said.
Joseph Mark Motes, 76, of Pembroke Pines, was taken into custody in Clay County under an Oct. 1 arrest warrant and transferred to the Miami-Dade jail system Friday morning.
Recommended Videos
Police said the victim, who is now 62, told investigators the abuse began when he was roughly 8 to 10 years old and a member of a Boy Scouts troop in what was then Dade County.
According to an arrest warrant from the Miami-Dade Police Department, detectives began looking into Motes, “a long-time leader within the organization,” in 2022 after the victim filed claims with the Boy Scouts of America amid a “nationwide appeal” from the organization for victims of sexual abuse to come forward.
Police said BSA requested that its South Florida Council forward the claim, which “documented multiple instances of sexual abuse,” to MDPD.
The warrant states that detectives interviewed the victim in November 2022.
In the warrant, veteran MDPD Special Victims Bureau Detective Paul Espana wrote that the victim was part of Troop 272 while in elementary school and Motes “fostered a close relationship” with the boy while serving as a leader.
Motes, the detective wrote, used that relationship to “manipulate and sexually abuse” the young boy.
Authorities said the victim was able to “recall and describe certain incidents in detail,” including a specific incident in which Motes abused him while parked in a vehicle at Twin Island Lake in the unincorporated Glenvar Heights area.
The victim told police that Motes “would provide him with tokens related to his military service as gifts or rewards,” which he kept and was able to show detectives, the warrant states.
The warrant states that police found probable cause to have Motes jailed on a count of sexual battery on a child.
As of Tuesday afternoon, he remained held without bond in the Metrowest Detention Center, Miami-Dade jail records show.