CATALINA ISLAND : Chaplain Gets 5 Years in Prison for Molestations

A former chaplain at a Boy Scout camp on Santa Catalina Island has been sentenced to five years in state prison for sexually molesting two children at the camp.

Khamh Van Nguyen, 24, was sentenced by Judge Sheila Pokras in Long Beach Superior Court on Friday for molesting two boys under age 14 at Cherry Valley Camp last summer.

Nguyen, who immigrated to America from Vietnam with his sister in about 1991, completed his studies for the priesthood at St John’s Seminary in Camarillo last year but had not been ordained, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Villa said.

Ron Schouemehl, Boy Scout assistant executive, said Nguyen had worked with the Roman Catholic church and youth programs in his native country. He applied to work for the Boy Scouts locally and was trained and hired as a camp chaplain, Schouemehl said.

“He had the background in the Catholic church and the background in Scouting, and that’s what led him to our doors,” Schouemehl said.

Nguyen taught at St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower before his arrest in September but was not accused of any wrongdoing there.

“He was just here for a couple of weeks and then the situation he was involved with came to our attention, and he was suspended,” St. John Bosco Principal Bill Goodman said.