Boy Scouts Forced To Reveal Scope Of Abuse
Like many other boys who grew up in the Pacific Northwest in the early 1980s, Tom and Matt Stewart shared a rugged childhood of hikes, campouts and fishing trips, most of it thanks to the Boy Scouts of America.
It was a program that kept the brothers involved in their Federal Way troop all the way to Eagle Scout. Years later, Tom became a Scoutmaster for his own sons.
But as they became adults and moved a thousand miles apart, each privately struggled with memories of Scouting that neither wanted to talk about: the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of their Scoutmaster, Bruce Phelps.
Matt Stewart would grow queasy at the sight of young Scouts in uniform. Tom Stewart suffered nightmares of fighting off Phelps' advances.
Finally, after decades of silence, the Stewart brothers grew convinced they weren't alone. In 2003, they sued the Boy Scouts and their former Scoutmaster and won an out-of-court settlement.
Four years later, the case has become a landmark in the 97-year history of the Boy Scouts, and the brothers spokesmen for a much larger issue. For the first time, the Boy Scouts of America has been forced to turn over, to the Stewarts' attorneys, its entire archive on sexually abusive Scout leaders.
The previously private records show the Boy Scouts have ejected at least 5,100 adult leaders nationwide for sexual abuse allegations since 1946. And the files reveal that despite efforts to keep potential abusers from joining, the problems persist: In the past 15 years alone, the organization has kicked out leaders for such allegations at a rate of once every other day.
The 45 boxes of files are not public because of a strict court order that prohibits the Stewarts and their lawyers from disclosing specific cases. But a statistical summary of the files, provided by the Stewarts' attorneys, shows the problem is larger than previously known.
Boy Scouts officials won't talk about the cases, but point out that ejected volunteers represent a small fraction of the 1.2 million adults who participate in Scouting every year. They also stress that they now have rules, including background checks and training, that didn't exist when Phelps was abusing Scouts.
But the Stewart brothers, now in their 40s, still grapple with the damage done by a single Scoutmaster. Phelps declined to be interviewed, but he has admitted abusing the brothers and two other boys in sworn testimony.
"The Boy Scouts is very unique because there is a very dangerous bond between Scout and Scoutmaster," explained Tom Stewart, now a 44-year-old Boeing engineer who lives near Enumclaw. "You are out in the middle of nowhere on an outing, and the Scoutmaster is God."
"I was constantly scared"
About five years ago, Matt Stewart was sitting on a beach in California, reading a newspaper story about sex abuse by Catholic priests, when he felt a chill of recognition. He saw the victims' trauma in his own life: work problems, a pattern of failed relationships, a deep distrust of authority.
"I knew that I had lost my youth," said Stewart, now a 42-year-old pharmaceutical salesman who lives in Palm Desert, Calif. "But I never knew why until then."
He called his brother Tom with the epiphany. Over the next few months, their pain congealed into anger. "We both had blocked out a lot of what happened to us," said Tom Stewart.
The Stewarts grew up as overachievers in Federal Way's Dash Point neighborhood: Straight-A students, musicians and athletes.
Their mother had urged them to join the Boy Scouts and had introduced them to Phelps, a teenage Eagle Scout who lived down the street and had his own Jeep.
Tom Stewart recalls his excitement as a second-grader when Phelps offered him a ride home after one of his first Cub Scout meetings. Along the way, according to Stewart, Phelps pulled over and performed oral sex on him. Matt Stewart also says he was about a second-grader when Phelps molested him during a fishing trip on Elliott Bay.
The abuse, including oral and anal sex, persisted all the way through high school, the brothers say: at Scout outings and camps, at a drive-in movie theater, at Phelps' house in West Seattle, and even in the Stewarts' own basement while their parents were upstairs.
Their parents let them spend entire weekends at Phelps' house on the pretext of working on merit badges, even after Phelps had grown up and moved to West Seattle, where he led another Scout troop.
"He would say, 'OK, that knot looks fine; you got your merit badge — now let's have sex,'" said Matt.
The Stewarts say they stayed quiet about the abuse because Phelps threatened to shoot their parents — or himself. They say they believed him because he often carried a revolver. "I was constantly scared," said Matt Stewart.
Phelps denied making the threats in a deposition for the Stewarts' lawsuit.
Matt Stewart didn't break his silence until age 25, in late 1989, when he called Seattle police.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. It was a program that kept the brothers involved in their Federal Way troop all the way to Eagle Scout. Years later, Tom became a Scoutmaster for his own sons.
But as they became adults and moved a thousand miles apart, each privately struggled with memories of Scouting that neither wanted to talk about: the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of their Scoutmaster, Bruce Phelps.
Matt Stewart would grow queasy at the sight of young Scouts in uniform. Tom Stewart suffered nightmares of fighting off Phelps' advances.
Finally, after decades of silence, the Stewart brothers grew convinced they weren't alone. In 2003, they sued the Boy Scouts and their former Scoutmaster and won an out-of-court settlement.
Four years later, the case has become a landmark in the 97-year history of the Boy Scouts, and the brothers spokesmen for a much larger issue. For the first time, the Boy Scouts of America has been forced to turn over, to the Stewarts' attorneys, its entire archive on sexually abusive Scout leaders.
The previously private records show the Boy Scouts have ejected at least 5,100 adult leaders nationwide for sexual abuse allegations since 1946. And the files reveal that despite efforts to keep potential abusers from joining, the problems persist: In the past 15 years alone, the organization has kicked out leaders for such allegations at a rate of once every other day.
The 45 boxes of files are not public because of a strict court order that prohibits the Stewarts and their lawyers from disclosing specific cases. But a statistical summary of the files, provided by the Stewarts' attorneys, shows the problem is larger than previously known.
Boy Scouts officials won't talk about the cases, but point out that ejected volunteers represent a small fraction of the 1.2 million adults who participate in Scouting every year. They also stress that they now have rules, including background checks and training, that didn't exist when Phelps was abusing Scouts.
But the Stewart brothers, now in their 40s, still grapple with the damage done by a single Scoutmaster. Phelps declined to be interviewed, but he has admitted abusing the brothers and two other boys in sworn testimony.
"The Boy Scouts is very unique because there is a very dangerous bond between Scout and Scoutmaster," explained Tom Stewart, now a 44-year-old Boeing engineer who lives near Enumclaw. "You are out in the middle of nowhere on an outing, and the Scoutmaster is God."
"I was constantly scared"
About five years ago, Matt Stewart was sitting on a beach in California, reading a newspaper story about sex abuse by Catholic priests, when he felt a chill of recognition. He saw the victims' trauma in his own life: work problems, a pattern of failed relationships, a deep distrust of authority.
"I knew that I had lost my youth," said Stewart, now a 42-year-old pharmaceutical salesman who lives in Palm Desert, Calif. "But I never knew why until then."
He called his brother Tom with the epiphany. Over the next few months, their pain congealed into anger. "We both had blocked out a lot of what happened to us," said Tom Stewart.
The Stewarts grew up as overachievers in Federal Way's Dash Point neighborhood: Straight-A students, musicians and athletes.
Their mother had urged them to join the Boy Scouts and had introduced them to Phelps, a teenage Eagle Scout who lived down the street and had his own Jeep.
Tom Stewart recalls his excitement as a second-grader when Phelps offered him a ride home after one of his first Cub Scout meetings. Along the way, according to Stewart, Phelps pulled over and performed oral sex on him. Matt Stewart also says he was about a second-grader when Phelps molested him during a fishing trip on Elliott Bay.
The abuse, including oral and anal sex, persisted all the way through high school, the brothers say: at Scout outings and camps, at a drive-in movie theater, at Phelps' house in West Seattle, and even in the Stewarts' own basement while their parents were upstairs.
Their parents let them spend entire weekends at Phelps' house on the pretext of working on merit badges, even after Phelps had grown up and moved to West Seattle, where he led another Scout troop.
"He would say, 'OK, that knot looks fine; you got your merit badge — now let's have sex,'" said Matt.
The Stewarts say they stayed quiet about the abuse because Phelps threatened to shoot their parents — or himself. They say they believed him because he often carried a revolver. "I was constantly scared," said Matt Stewart.
Phelps denied making the threats in a deposition for the Stewarts' lawsuit.
Matt Stewart didn't break his silence until age 25, in late 1989, when he called Seattle police.
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www.dianascreen.com
I do have a question. Mr. Stewart makes the statement "I cannot be a leader in an organization that does not protect boys." What would satisfy him (other than a large legal settlement) that we are protecting boys or how can we protect the boys? We do background checks, we are never out of sight of the group with a boy, we have two adults on every trip, and we train the boys to protect themselves. What else can we do?
This article seems like a hit piece against a very decent American orgainization, run by very decent men and women.
Some years ago they went after the Scouts by not allowing girls in.
Then they ruined a great relationship with the federal gov''t to use some park and gov''t miliary space for their camping, which had been a tradition for over 100 years, thanks ACLU.
Now this.
At the same time the very media, and ACLU types do all they can to "protect" the names of *** offenders, and their locations, so all us decent people live on edge. Thanks again for sticking up for the perverts, and at the same time attacking all things American and Decent. What organiztions do you ACLU types have for kids to build character and explore the wilderness ? None. Would you desciminiate against gay leaders and campers , and separatation of gender ? I am waiting to see ... The point is ACLU types are destoyers and not builders.
A) 2 Deep Policy. At no time is an adult to be with a child without either 2 or more children present, or another adult.
B) Leaders are NOT permitted to sleep in a tent/hut/cabin with a scout unless that scout is thier own child. If Fred wants to sleep in the same tent as my son, I have to leave the tent and sleep under a tree.
C) All scouts (leaders included) are required to watch a safety video on abuse, and to learn to recongize the signs of a pedophile (yes - 95% all use the same patterns to gain the child''s trust) and to speak up if they feel uncomfortable around someone, and to yell/scream/punch - to do whatever it takes, to get away from them and get someone to listen. All leaders/volunteers are required to attend a different training from what the scouts learn to keep updated on new policies as well as refreshing the old. We get cards showing that we are trained. Ask, if your child''s leader does not have one, find out why.
1) Pedophiles are in every organization, from youth sports, schools, churches, safety officials, etc, etc, etc. They are men/women/old/young/bald/red headed/martian aliens, etc, etc, etc. As parents, we need to make sure that we are involved with these and not to just "drop off the kids, go to the store, come back later and pick them up". Get to know the coaches, leaders, friend''s parents, and so on.
Get involved with the organization, find out what thier policies, training, and safety procedures are. Find out why people are there, are they parents of a player, singer, scout, whatever.
2) Talk to your kids, but more importantly - LISTEN with your ears and eyes. They might be trying to tell us something through their actions and words, but we are so busy we do not notice.
If someone is stealing the ship''''s rum, it''''s not discrimination to look first at the known alcoholics.
Posted by gkc99 at 09:52 PM : Aug 24, 2007
Just because you obviously have no self-control over your sexual urges, you project your own weaknesses upon everyone else? As a happily contented adult gay male, I''m just as capable of being monogamous and faithful to my one partner, which I assume is the same of many heterosexual married men. I have absolutely no desire to rape or molest anyone of any age. But I guess since you think everyone must be sexual predators who can''t control themselves, you must fight those urges yourself. How dangerous are YOU?
Obviously your knowledge of rape, child abuse and pedophilia is not very high. Pedophiles may prefer adolescent or younger kids. Some don''t want a kid over 8, others not over 12 and still others take it all the way to 17.The fact is a 15 or 16 year old is emotionally and mentally still a child and can be manipulated. Just in different ways.
the nitty gritty about why many pedophiles only like really young children is because they do not want any odors, genital hair or anything else to remind them that the person is growing up. A child begins to have hormones and their personal scent changes at about 12 to 14, so this is the cut off age for die hard pedophiles that only want to destroy children. Still, there are some that like to exploit those on the verge of growing up. the other attraction is that emotionally, pedophiles and other rapists are warped and immature, invariably they "think" they are the same age as their victim and do not want someone that can ''outhink'' or second guess them. But there are several types of pedaphiles and though some are homosexual, most are heterosexual men, same as the profile for those who rape and murder kids--94% are heterosexual men.
It is the entire taboo, force and getting an *** thrown in to boot. don''t downplay the *** part, because that is the part that destroys others. If it was just about power and control, people would just enslave others, not rape them. Those who rape get a thrill out of it and out of the act itself--make no mistake.
No sleepovers for my kids unless all males are gone and I drop by for treats and games and stay a while myself. No school sleepovers. Not band, cheerleading, NONE...do you know what happens when your kids are away from home.
And word to the wise, background checks only catch CONFIRMED molesters. It does not catch the career ones that no one has told on yet. When a grown man wants to spend time with your son, and is not related and is not close to you (or even if he is) beware, if he is close to you, then he needs to spend time with both of you NOT just your son. Ladies, beware of men who claim to be interested in you but are overly interested in your kids. Men have practically a fetish for the tight butts of boys and young girls. (Sodomy)