By Paul Kurtz

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A 28-year-old Delaware man has filed suit against the Boy Scouts and the Mormon Church in connection with the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a scoutmaster when he was a teenager.

Melvin Novak’s complaint says that pedophiles had infiltrated scouting for decades; a fact that was recently proven by the release of the organizations perversion files listing more than 1,200 alleged abusers who were weeded out between 1965 and 1985.

Scoutmaster Melvin Hein was convicted of abusing Novak in Chester County in 1999. It was an experience that left the plaintiff shattered.

“My childhood just fell apart. I guess you could classify me as a quitter. I never finished after that that I started. I never finished college. I finished high school, but only through a homeschooling program after not graduating with my class,” Novak explained.

Novak says he also fell into a pit of substance abuse for about five years.

He’s also targeted the Mormon Church because it failed to conduct a background check before hiring Vance Hein.