BANGOR – A Tennessee man has accused a former Bangor middle school teacher of sexually assaulting him in the 1970s and is seeking $5 million in compensation in a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court.

Miles Guptill, 41, of Cleveland, Tenn., announced Friday at a press conference held in the office of his Bangor attorney, Brett Baber, that he is suing F. Allen Martin, 63, of Orono.

In addition to Martin, the Boy Scouts of America and Dirigo Search and Rescue are named as defendants. Baber said on Friday that he expected it would take nine months to a year for the case to be resolved.

Orono police confirmed on Friday that they are investigating Martin for allegedly sexually assaulting Guptill and are asking other possible victims to come forward.

The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Bangor because Guptill is a resident of Tennessee, and the federal court is the jurisdiction for conflicts of residents in different states.

Criminal charges cannot be filed in Guptill’s case because the statute of limitations has expired, Sgt. Scott Wilcox of Orono said on Friday.

“It’s a challenging investigation,” Wilcox said. “We can’t go out and interview people because we don’t know who they are.”

Martin, a co-founder of Dirigo Search and Rescue Association, retired in June after teaching music appreciation at the William S. Cohen Middle School in Bangor for many years, according to the Bangor School Department.

Efforts to reach Martin on Friday were unsuccessful.Theodore “Ted” Curtis of Orono confirmed on Friday that he has been retained to represent Martin. The attorney, however, declined to comment on the pending lawsuit because he had not seen the complaint. Richard Avery Jr., executive director of the Katahdin Area Council, said Friday night that Martin had not been a Boy Scout leader for many years.

“The Boy Scouts of America has not yet seen the complaint,” Avery said. “Therefore, we cannot comment on the specifics. We want to assure Scouting families and the community we serve that Scouting has a strong regard for the safety of our children. It is of the utmost importance to us.”

Guptill said on Friday that he wants other possible victims to come forward.

“I hope if there are other people out there, they’ll come forward,” he said. “Let’s bring it out there, get it out of the way, put a stop to it once and for all, and let everybody heal.”

Guptill was adopted by an Orono family in 1970 when he was 8 years old. He met Martin in his early teens when he joined a swim team in Old Town that Martin helped supervise. Guptill said on Friday he got involved in the Boy Scouts and the rescue team at Martin’s urging.

He also said that Martin found ways to be alone with him under the pretext of having the boy help the older man prepare sites for group events the next day. He said that Martin never gave him drugs or alcohol.

“I tried to fight him, but I couldn’t fight him,” Guptill said Friday. “He became outraged if you fought.”

Baber described the abuse as “full-blown intercourse.”

The attorney said in a phone interview Sunday that the statute of limitations in civil actions over sexual abuse of a minor was lifted in 1999 by the state Legislature. It’s unclear, Baber said Sunday, whether the Legislature intended to make it retroactive. The federal court may ask the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to decide that question before the case could proceed.

Guptill, who owns a home remodeling business in southern Tennessee, has been married for 15 years and has three daughters. He and his wife are expecting a son in December.

He said that he recently taped a conversation with Martin in which the former teacher admitted the abuse.

Baber played a tape at the press conference Friday and identified the voice on it as Martin’s.

“I was young,” the male voice on the tape said. “That’s not an excuse but an explanation. I didn’t fully understand the impact. I was the adult. I should have known better, but I was a pretty young adult.”

The voice on the tape also said that in the past few years, he had taken himself out of child-centered activities but had continued teaching.

“There’s almost no way that could be a problem,” the voice on the tape said. “There are 20 to 30 kids in a classroom, and it hasn’t been a problem.”

Guptill said Friday that he quit Orono High School when he was 17 and joined the military to get away from Martin’s abuse. He did not tell his father until many years later after his mother had died.

Baber said that Guptill has suffered severe depression and attempted suicide because of the abuse. Psychotherapy has not helped his client much, according to Baber.

Guptill said Friday that he wanted to file the lawsuit “to regain my soul.”