Florida the rules are different here Chapter XXXII

This story out of the Orlando Sentinel is disturbing. 6-year-olds at camp engaged in oral sex. Where were the adults when this was going on? The idiot, I mean police spokesman said this is what little kids do. Who put the lunatics in charge up in Leesburg?

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LEESBURG -- City officials said a group of young boys attending a Leesburg day camp had a troubling requirement for membership into their secret club -- sex acts.

Ever since another camper reported the boys' acts on June 22, the city, the boys' parents and advocates for children have worried about where two 6-year-olds and an 8-year-old learned the behavior.

They still don't have an answer.

A police investigation and interviews by children's experts did not reveal evidence the boys had been abused, the most common explanation for sexual behavior among young children.

The city says the three boys hid under a playground platform five to 12 times and engaged in oral sex acts while others played at Rogers Park. But an angry mother of one of the boys wants the city to take more action.

"She's dissatisfied and wants heads to roll," Deputy City Manager Jay Evans said Tuesday. "Our investigation has not revealed any failure to respond . . . We had a voluntary event, deliberately concealed, that could never be expected."

The mother could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The city will pay a therapist to counsel the boys and their families. The city told parents of children who attend the camp about the June 22 incident. Officials also boarded up the crawl space under the slide where the boys were said to be hiding, two at a time.

"One of them said, 'Let's be in a club. This is what you have to do to be in the club, and we'll be best friends,' " Evans said.

Five counselors watched 40 kids -- ranging in age from 6 to 14 years old -- the day the club was discovered. Another boy told a counselor that two 6-year-olds were being "naughty." As the pair crawled out from their hiding place, the counselor saw one boy pulling up his pants. The boys later said an 8-year-old, who was not at camp that day, was in the club, too.

The Leesburg Police Department closed its criminal investigation after the boys told children's advocates that one of them had come up with the idea, and they promised each other they would never talk about it.

"It's little kids doing what little kids do," police department spokesman David Marden Sr. said. "They play doctor -- boys and girls. You're not going to charge a 6-year-old."

Patrick Ward, a Tavares psychologist who has handled child sex court cases for 12 years, said the boys' behavior raises "major red flags."

"Engaging in oral sex is far different than 'you show me yours, I'll show you mine,'" Ward said. He added, "Kids are going to find places to go off and do stuff," but the behavior in this case went beyond the norm.

Ward's main concern, however, is that the kids may be shamed for breaking social taboos. "It's child on child; it's male on male, it's touching. It's a sex act," Ward said.

"The reaction to this incident by the parents and others could be as traumatizing or more traumatizing than the incident itself," Ward said. "It needs to be dealt with compassion."