TEXARKANA, Texas–The Boy Scouts of America and two affiliated Scouting organizations have been added as defendants in a federal lawsuit accusing the Texarkana Texas Police Department of failing to protect a 15-year-old girl who was sexually abused by a patrol officer during overnight ride-alongs through the department’s Explorer Program.
In a First Amended Complaint filed last week in the Eastern District of Texas, the girl’s mother named Learning for Life Inc., Boy Scouts of America (doing business as Scouting America), and the Caddo Area Council, Boy Scouts of America as new defendants.
The amended complaint accuses the Scouting organizations of negligence and gross negligence, alleging they knew for decades that one-on-one police ride-alongs created a “Ride-Along Loophole” that exposed minor Explorer participants to sexual exploitation, yet failed to close it until 2025.
“Despite notice of at least 217 abuse allegations across 100 agencies, often specifically linked to the ‘Ride-Along Loophole,’ the Scouting Defendants consciously disregarded this extreme risk and did not mandate ‘two-deep leadership’ for ride-alongs until June 30, 2025, long after [the victim] was assaulted,” the lawsuit alleges, referring to the girl by her initials.
The amended complaint also identifies four Texarkana police supervisors as defendants: Sgt. Cody Harris, who allegedly headed the Explorer Program, Lt. Jeremy Courtney, and officers D.E. Evans and Marc Neal.
The lawsuit alleges Evans and Neal were responsible for assigning Explorer participants to specific officers, and that they began assigning the girl exclusively to former officer Zackary Taylor Gilley after he displayed an “overt preference” for her and exhibited a “poor attitude” when other participants were assigned to him.
Gilley, 32, is facing two counts of sexual assault of a child, a single count of child grooming, three counts of indecency with a child by contact and a single count of indecency with a child by exposure. He was indicted by a Bowie County grand jury in August and September of last year and remains free on $600,000 bond.
In May 2024, Gilley allegedly told the girl they needed to stop texting and instructed her to delete his number and their messages because supervisors were asking questions about his potential divorce and why he only rode with her.
“Although [the victim] and Defendant Gilley ceased messaging, Defendant Gilley was allowed to continue escorting only [the victim] on ‘ride-alongs’ and was therefore able to continue his sexual abuse of the minor child,” the lawsuit alleges.
A decades-long pattern, the lawsuit alleges
The amended complaint argues the Scouting organizations had decades of warning that police Explorer ride-alongs were dangerous, citing similar cases of officers sexually abusing teenage Explorer participants in California, New Hampshire, Texas, Massachusetts, Indiana and elsewhere dating back to the 1980s.
Among the cited cases is that of Sandra Birchmore, a Stoughton, Massachusetts Explorer who allegedly began a sexual relationship with a police officer at age 15 and died by suicide in 2021 after years of alleged abuse by multiple officers.
The lawsuit notes that while Boy Scouts of America established a “two-deep leadership” policy in 1987 requiring two adult leaders for all youth activities to prevent unsupervised contact between adults and minors, the rule specifically exempted ride-alongs.
Learning for Life, the BSA affiliate that administers the Exploring Program, issued a “Midnight Rule” in 2017 prohibiting Explorers under 18 from participating in ride-alongs after midnight. The lawsuit alleges the organization “consciously chose not to audit, monitor, or verify the TTPD’s compliance” with that rule.
The two-deep leadership rule was not extended to ride-alongs until June 30, 2025, more than seven months after Gilley’s alleged abuse of the girl ended.
Caddo Area Council’s role
The Caddo Area Council, headquartered in Texarkana, chartered the TTPD’s Explorer Post 2412 in 2018. The lawsuit alleges the council renewed the charter “despite internal notice in May 2024 that supervisors were already asking questions about Gilley’s exclusive access to R.B., a clear red flag of grooming that the Council failed to investigate.”
The mother is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for her daughter’s “severe emotional distress, anguish, suffering, humiliation, psychological injuries, indignities, loss of enjoyment of life, deprivation of constitutional rights, invasion of bodily integrity, and other incidental, consequential, and special damages.”
The girl originally wanted to become a police officer but has abandoned that dream after her experience with Gilley, the lawsuit said.
The mother is represented by Meghan Mitchell and Margret Brown of Fadduol Cluff Hardy & Conaway PC, and Michael C. Kane of THE702FIRM. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III.
Gilley has requested the court pause the federal proceedings until the resolution of his criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault of a child, three counts of indecency with a child by contact, one count of indecency with a child by exposure and one count of child grooming.
Gilley is represented in his criminal case by Texarkana lawyer Jeff Harrelson. The state is represented in the criminal case by Bowie County District Attorney-elect Kelley Crisp.