In our case against William Airey, the former executive director of Moose International, attorneys Konrad Kircher and Seth Langson took the defendant’s deposition recently in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Airey denied abusing the plaintiff Jason Peck, but when he was asked questions about three other men who have come forward with allegations that he abused them when they were children, he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to answer even whether he knew any of these three alleged victims.
Additionally, Mr. Airey testified that in the late 1960’s he was arrested in Columbus on charges of lewd and lascivious conduct. He said this happened after the police found him in his car with a male “student” who was performing a sexual act on him. He testified that after he was arrested, he called his wife and the President of the Ohio State Moose Association, who bailed him out of jail. Airey was advised by the President to resign his position as manager of Moose Lodge 11.
Several years later, Airey was a charter member of Whitehall, Ohio Moose Lodge 1245 until he was hired by Moose International in Aurora, Illinois in 1983. He was appointed to the post of Director General of the Loyal Order of Moose and Chief Executive Officer of Moose International in 2006, after holding several positions in the Membership, Marketing and Development departments. He announced his retirement as Director General of Moose International in December 2012, within days after our lawsuit was filed.
The trial of Peck v. Airey is now scheduled to begin May 12, 2014 in Columbus, Ohio.
We strongly encourage anyone who was ever sexually abused by William Airey to come forward and contact us. We are also seeking witnesses with knowledge about actions of sexual abuse by Mr. Airey.