For Eagle Scout Falsely Arrested in Restroom Sex Sting, Police Record is Easier to Erase Than Internet Public Shaming

The Eagle Scout will also receive $175,000 from the city of Manhattan Beach.

Caught up in a restroom sex sting that led to his public shaming, an Eagle Scout's two and a half year struggle to regain his good name has ended with police acknowledging his innocence.

Sam Couch, 22, also receives $175,000 under the terms of a settlement with the city of Manhattan Beach.

"Why it took so long, I don't know," Couch said from Philadelphia, where he is now studying computer science at Temple University.  At the time, he was living with his parents in Hawthorne, where he grew up, and attending El Camino College.

For his Eagle Scout project, Couch volunteered at a church to work with disabled children, taking them on outings. It was on one such trip to the beach, in March 2012, that Couch found himself in the middle of an sting being carried out by Manhattan Beach police at the public restroom on the Strand at the foot of Marine Avenue. The operation used undercover officers to target use of the restroom for sexual encounters.

According to Couch, the boy on the beach outing, an 11-year-old with Prader-Willi Syndrome, needed to use the restroom. Couch waited in the adjacent changing area while the boy was in the stall. A man later identified as an undercover officer entered the stall next to the child, and moments later the boy exclaimed that the man was looking at him through a hole in the stall's sidewall. Couch took the boy outside, where he was tackled by a goup of men in plainclothes who turned out to be undercover officers.

Couch was taken to the police station for questioning and booked on suspicion of lewd conduct.
He was not charged, but the following month, police included Couch's mugshot when they publicly posted photos of 18 purported sex offenders arrested in the sting. The story was picked up by multiple news media outlets, including newspapers, television stations, and websites.

Later, in connection with the same sting, Couch was charged with resisting arrest, but that was dismissed, and last year Couch sued the department in federal court, demanding not only damages, but a stipulation to his innocence.

"I think they never would have acknowledged anything had there not been a lawsuit," said Larry Couch, Sam Couch's father.

The Manhattan Beach City Council discussed the case behind closed doors during an executive session in November 2013. The case was proceeding to trial in federal district court when the settlement agreement was finalized.

"Now I do see a sense of relief in him, and that brings a lot of relief to me," said Shirley Couch, Sam Couch's mother.

As part of the settlement, the arrest record has been purged. But that does not undo the public shaming.

"In a perfect world, all of the things they put out to the internet would also disappear," Sam Couch said. "But we live in 2014, and the internet doesn't let things disappear."

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