MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A former Boy Scout troop leader faces a sexual battery charge in Miami-Dade County after police say a man came forward to report he abused him as a youth five decades ago, police said.

Joseph Mark Motes, 76, of Pembroke Pines, was taken into custody in Clay County on an Oct. 1 arrest warrant and transferred to the Miami-Dade prison system Friday morning.

Police said the victim, now 62, told investigators the abuse began when she was about 8 to 10 years old and a member of the Boy Scout troop in what was then Dade County.

According to a Miami-Dade Police Department arrest warrant, detectives began investigating Motes, “a longtime leader within the organization,” in 2022 after the victim filed complaints with the Boy Scouts of America amid a “call at national level” from the organization for victims of sexual abuse to come forward.

Police said the BSA asked its South Florida Council to forward the complaint, which “documented multiple instances of sexual abuse,” to the MDPD.

The warrant states that detectives interviewed the victim in November 2022.

In the warrant, veteran MDPD Special Victims Bureau detective Paul Espana wrote that the victim was part of Troop 272 while in elementary school and Motes “fostered a close relationship” with the boy while he was a leader.

Motes, the detective wrote, used that relationship to “manipulate and sexually abuse” the young man.

Authorities said the victim was able to “recall and describe certain incidents in detail,” including a specific incident in which Motes abused him while parked in a vehicle on Twin Island Lake in unincorporated Glenvar Heights.

The victim told police that Motes “would give him tokens related to his military service as gifts or rewards,” which he kept and was able to show to detectives, the warrant states.

The warrant states that police found probable cause for Motes to be jailed for sexually assaulting a child.

As of Tuesday afternoon, he remained held without bond in the Metrowest Detention Center, Miami-Dade jail records show.