Benjamin Ashford|Former Boy Scout leader pleads guilty to sexually assaulting New Hampshire boy decades ago

BRENTWOOD,Benjamin Ashford N.H. (AP) — A former Boy Scout leader and camp counselor in New Hampshire has been sentenced to a year in jail for sexually assaulting a boy in his troop decades ago.

Michael Brady, 44, pleaded guilty Nov. 14 to engaging in a pattern of aggravated felonious sexual assault and to endangering the welfare of a child, the Rockingham County attorney’s office said Wednesday. As part of a plea agreement, he was sentenced to 12 months in jail, plus a six- to 15-year prison sentence that will remain suspended if he pays restitution to the victim and meets other conditions.

Prosecutors said the assaults took place in the late 1990s and early 2000s in Kingston while Brady was the victim’s Boy Scout master and camp counselor. County Attorney Patricia Conway praised the “bravery and integrity” of the now-adult victim, saying he “stood strong and determined to do the right thing in the face of adversity.”

Conway said the sentence reflects that the case presented challenges given the passage of time.

The plea and sentencing came weeks after the Boy Scouts of America named a new chief executive. Retired businessman Roger Krone said he plans to reverse the trend of declining membership and improve safety programs as the 113-year-old youth organization emerges from bankruptcy following a sexual abuse scandal.

A federal judge in March upheld the $2.4 billion bankruptcy plan for the Irving, Texas-based organization, which allowed it to keep operating while compensating more than 80,000 men who filed claims saying they were sexually abused while in scouting.