Former Burlington doctor, church leader charged with sexual assault

A former Burlington family physician has been charged with multiple sexual offences.

Sixty-year-old Scott Musson, who is the son of a well-known Burlington homeowner whose Christmas lights display attracts massive annual crowds, was arrested on Saturday and charged with two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference.

The alleged victim was a youth at the time of the assaults which occurred between 1997 and 1998.

At the time, Musson was a practicing doctor and involved with youth programs at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Burlington.

Investigators believe there may be additional victims.

Musson’s father, Doug Musson, died in December 2017 while decorating the home.

“The news so often focuses on the negative and this is why we’re doing these interviews. We have to show people there is still positive in this world,” Scott said at the time.

The alleged victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, spoke to Global News.

“It gave him exposure to us, the Christmas Eves it would start out. Year after year we’d go in the hot tub, he had an indoor hot tub,” he said.

He said his family and the Mussons were friends and knew each other through the church.

He said Musson became his family doctor.

“I was kind of depressed around that age I wasn’t really doing well in school … Scott was a doctor and around that same year we went there for Christmas and he had shown me, as we were hanging around, a whole bunch of computers I was interested in,” he said.

He added, it took years for him to contact Halton police, because he was afraid. However, he said he did reach out to the church.

“It was never dealt with in the church at all … just no accountability at all from people who knew and never spoke up,” he said.

Sam Penrod, a spokesperson for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sent Global News the following statement in response to the news.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has zero-tolerance for any form of abuse. The Church has just learned of these allegations, but is committed to a thorough review of them.”

In 2001, Dr. Robert Scott Musson was stripped of his medical license for professional misconduct and incompetence.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario found he had sexually abused four teenage boys.

“I got to the point where I just had to speak up because it happened to me,” said the alleged victim, who only recently contacted police. An investigation has since been launched, with police issuing a release on Friday.

“The older I get, the more I realize how wrong it was … I suppressed a lot,” he said.

He said, most triggering for him, is the Musson family’s annual Christmas display and seeing Musson take part in interviews with the media following his father’s death.

“For one of the things he uses the most to lure families in and he had a GoFundMe for more money to do it … It was a lot,” the alleged victim said.

The allegations against Musson have not been proven in court.