Boy Scout files show sex abuse cover-ups

PORTLAND, Ore. Again and again, decade after decade, an array of authorities — police chiefs, prosecutors, pastors and local Boy Scout leaders among them — quietly shielded scoutmasters and others accused of molesting children, a newly opened trove of confidential papers shows.

At the time, those authorities justified their actions as necessary to protect the good name and good works of Scouting, a pillar of 20th century America. But as detailed in 14,500 pages of secret "perversion files" released Thursday by order of the Oregon Supreme Court, their maneuvers allowed sexual predators to go free while victims suffered in silence.

For many of those victims, the released file provides some hope. Jon Anderson told CBS Evening News correspondent Anna Werner he was molested by a scout master beginning in 1976 when he was 14.

"I think [the released files] show that this country needs to do a better job protecting its children ... if we don't set up the protection for these kids, they're doomed," he said."

The files are a window on a much larger collection of documents the Boy Scouts of America began collecting soon after their founding in 1910. The files, kept at Boy Scout headquarters in Texas, consist of memos from local and national Scout executives, handwritten letters from victims and their parents and newspaper clippings about legal cases. The files contain details about proven molesters, but also unsubstantiated allegations.

"To the extent that we fell short of protecting the youth -- and we did fall short in some instances -- we're profoundly sorry," Boy Scouts of America President Wayne Perry told Werner. "Our job is to protect every youth. It's not enough to say we did a great job most of the time. We have to do a great job all of the time."

Boy Scout abuse victim Tom Stewart poses for a photo with his old Scout uniform outside the Boy Scout Camp Kilworth in Federal Way, Wash on August 16.

/ Ted S. Warren

The allegations stretch across the country and to military bases overseas, from a small town in the Adirondacks to downtown Los Angeles.

At the news conference Thursday, Portland attorney Kelly Clark blasted the Boy Scouts for their continuing legal battles to try to keep the full trove of files secret.

The Associated Press obtained copies of the files weeks in advance of Thursday's release and conducted an extensive review of them.

The files were shown to a jury in a 2010 Oregon civil suit that the Scouts lost, and the Oregon Supreme Court ruled the files should be made public. After months of objections and redactions, the Scouts and Clark released them.

In many instances — more than a third, according to the Scouts' own count — police weren't told about the reports of abuse. And even when they were, sometimes local law enforcement still did nothing, seeking to protect the name of Scouting over their victims.

Victims like three brothers, growing up in northeast Louisiana.

• Boy Scouts to report found pedophiles to police
• Boy Scouts to review all accusations of abuse
• Boy Scouts defend procedures to protect youth

On the afternoon of Aug. 10, 1965, their distraught mother walked into the third floor of the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office. A 31-year-old scoutmaster, she told the chief criminal deputy, had raped one of her sons and molested two others.

Six days later, the scoutmaster, an unemployed airplane mechanic, sat down in front of a microphone in the same station, said he understood his rights and confessed: He had sexually abused the woman's sons more than once.

"I don't know how to tell it," the man told a sheriff's deputy. "They just occurred — I don't know an explanation, why we done it or I done it or wanted to do it or anything else it just — an impulse I guess or something.

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Boy scouts "perversion files" released

"You do not keep secrets hidden about dangers to children," said Clark, who in 2010 won a landmark lawsuit against the Boy Scouts on behalf of a plaintiff who was molested by an assistant scoutmaster in the 1980s.

"As far as an explanation I just couldn't dig one up."

He wouldn't have to. Seven days later, the decision was made not to pursue charges against the scoutmaster.

The last sliver of hope for justice for the abuse of two teenagers and an 11-year-old boy slipped away in a confidential letter from a Louisiana Scouts executive to the organization's national personnel division in New Jersey.

"This subject and Scouts were not prosecuted," the executive wrote, "to save the name of Scouting."

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[justiceforkids]

Accused pedophile, Sylvain Kustyan, formally charged with two counts of 1st Degree Sodomy of a ten-year-old little boy, fled the country to his native France where he is free to continue to prey on innocent little French boys. Online posts by former students indicate that the abuse has been extensive. This 6'-7' fugitive of the law and elementary/ middle school teacher is the author of a popular children's textbook, published by a large and influential publishing house that has been made aware of the charges against him.The average pedophile has 300 different victims. The Boy Scout Scandal shows that we need to get these menaces to our children off the streets.

[SL-Mania]

How many cases does thicountry has?

To my surprise, these cases were caused by a scout master,a football coach, and a catholic bishop. They have authorities over many persons.

[MarkDavis100]

Institutional child abuse must be stopped!

Jehovah's Witnesses hit with $28 million sex abuse settlement Oakland,Calif.-Google it.

Jehovah's Witnesses have many issues with sexual molestation of children.The religion and its members are more concerned about protecting the group image than the victims.

TWO WITNESSES required.
The Jehovah's Witnesses require 'two witnesses' to a crime or it didn't happen,you are supposed to 'leave it in
Jehovah's hands' wait on the lord.
How many pedophiles allow an eyewitness?
These people engage in a door to door ministry, possibly exposing children to pedophiles.
The Watchtower corporation has paid out millions in settlement money already.
--
Danny Haszard *tell the truth don't be afraid* FMI http://www.dannyhaszard.com

[do_japan]

I would have much preferred to have been fondled by my scout master than have my doctor slice off my foreskin. At least when your scout master molests you he doesn't remove half the nerve endings in your ***** or leave a scar on it. I'm a victim of sex abuse too. But people laugh and think I'm joking because it has been so normalized.

[FromCalifornia]

REPUBS_R_FISCAL_LIBERALS ... There is NO such thing as a consenting child. That comment made by skin crawl. Maybe you need to seek help.

[do_japan]

When I was a small boy I was abused. But the worst part is that the sheriff refused to prosecute the guy who abused me and several other boys. He is still molesting young boys to this day. He lays you down on his table, takes off your underpants, and slices off your foreskin! I would have much preferred to have been fondled by my scout master.

[do_japan]

I was molested too when I was a young boy. But the worst part is that the police refused to prosecute the man who abused me and several other boys. He is still molesting young boys to this day. He lays you down on his table, takes off your underpants, and slices off your foreskin! I would have much preferred to have been fondled by my scout master.

[tmittelstaed]

I had that same thing happen to me when I was a baby, and my parents helped!!!

[1madmexican]

The BSA started the perversion files a little after 1910. It was started because there were child molesters and other undesirables back then, same as today. BSA wanted a way of preventing these abusers out of scouting once it was discovered that they were harming children. They wanted to prevent these molesters from trying to join a different troop where they would have access to boys and where no one knew what they had done before.

The BSA is not to blame for these disgusting people who abused scouts. I agree that BSA should have reported all cases to law enforcement, and in 2/3's of the cases they did. Once a report is made, it is law enforcement's responsibility to investigate and seek prosecution if the allegations can be proven.

I am currently an active scout leader and have been for many years. I am also familar with a variety of other youth programs and I believe the BSA has best youth protection policies and training than any other youth organizations I have seen so far. It makes me wonder what is going on in other organizations that do not have a good youth protection program. The youth protection program of today is strictly enforced. All registered adults (regardless if you are a leader or not) must have taken the required youth protection training and they must renew it every two years or else they will not be granted membership. At certain levels of the program / advancement, the scouts are required to discuss issues involving all types of abuse, harassment, and substance abuse (and know what to do in the event they are placed in those situations).

Pedophiles will always be drawn to groups or organizations where children gather; however, it is up to parents and adults to supervise these children. I take responsibility for my own children, I talk to them, and I know them well enough to know when something is not right.

In addition, the BSA is a private organization and whose basic core belief is duty to God and country. Because it is a private organization, it is allowed to grant membership to who ever it wants. If they do not want homosexuals and atheists in their group because it is unconsistant with one of their core religious beliefs, thats their choice. (My white friends are not allowed to join the NAACP, if you don't believe in God you won't be admitted into Notre Dame). For those people are homosexual or atheists and want to do outdoor, community service projects, or other activities, then I suggest you find a group that will satisfy YOUR needs, and not force others to agree with your beliefs.

This thing is not the same as the Catholic church who covered up the abuse and transferred the offending priest to another church were they still had access to youth. In the BSA case, they used these files in an attempt to prevent these perverts from trying to sneak back into scouting. It mostly succeeded, but I am sure some still slipped through the cracks. Would it have been better if they just did not keep any files???... I think not.

It's sad that there are people who are determined to destroy scouting at all cost. What's next... the YMCA (that is a private organization which is christian based), the 4H club, Indian Guides, Girl Scouts???

[tmittelstaed]

I was a Scout in Oregon back in the late 70's. I am Order of the Arrow and Star Scout and camp counselor for 1 summer at camp Meriwether.

I do not recall Scouting ever giving the kind of litmus test on homosexuality or belief in God or any of that fundamentalist Christian GARBAGE you are spewing, back when I was in Scouts (technically I still am, once your OA you are in Scouting for life) When I was in Scouts it was all about camping and helping young boys go out in the woods and have a blast camping, and maybe earn a few merit badges. Our fun at the time was throwing junk into the firepit (one time a can of corn blew up, much fun) sneaking up and ambusing each other with water balloons, sending the newbies out on Snipe hunts, and otherwise blowing off steam in the woods.

The few times we ever got together and said the Scouting Oath if the athiests remained silent on the God part, nobody called them out on it. If there were a few "funny" kids in the troop who were obviously gay, it was ignored. The focus was on camadarie and surmounting the elements. We might have had the tent blow down in a rainstorm, or had to walk 4 extra miles on the trail because someone "thought there was water just around the bend" but we did it together, and didn't tear each other down.

If people like you are running Scouting today who are so obviously filled with hate against gays and athiests that you feel you must single them out and expell them from Scouting, then I am ashamed to admit to anyone that I was once a Scout. Clearly the Religious Republican Right has infected Scouting with it's hatred, the Scouting that I knew and loved as a kid is obviously gone.

[emddd40x-2009]

RE: TMITTELSTAED's reply:
I agree with you that the primary focus of Scouting is the outdoor program and building a strong citizen with a good moral training.

I've always found it interesting that while Scouting says that a Scout is reverent and should have a faith in God, it doesn't say what that faith is or how to be reverent. It leaves that up to the charter organization for each unit.

A lot of people don't realize this, but the Charter Organization sets the tone of how a unit behaves. There are Charter Organizations out there that have no focus on religion, and as such their units have no focus on religion. There are also plenty of Churches (of a wide variety of denominations and faiths) that sponsor units that have a heavy focus on what God means to them.

Scouting is just a program framework. It is up to the Charter Organizations and the volunteers they recruit to implement it.
I just finished up a 4 year time as an Assistant Scoutmaster for a religiously affiliated unit. I had a great time and have moved "onward and upward" as a volunteer in the organization.
I've seen some good implementations of Scouting and some poor implementations of Scouting. The worst of them are the leaders that don't attend trainings because "they already know what they're doing."

[cattiej]

I think that the victims of these pedofiles should sue, the parents should sue and then the courts should close down the Boy Scouts permanently. I would never let our grandson be in this scouting...as it turns out the "scouting" was being done by child molesters.
Some of the Boy Scout leaders in our community probably weight 300-400 lbs, some are skinny and unkept...poor examples for these kids to look up to...
Parents...if you have a son in Boy Scouts, question them about their leaders and if they say one of them sexually assualted them, have that person arrested and then plaster their name and picture on every street in your community.
You can also use the computer to look up the child molesters in your community..I suggest you do this and make a copy of this so if you see one of these perks, you can call the cops..remember this story that none of the so called leaders of the Boy Scouts did anything and didn't even have these child molesters arrest...all the save the good name of Boy Scouts...NO..it was just to protect themselves..Out with the Boy Scouts or should I say the Child Molester Scouts of America.

[bradkt1]

This is ancient news and when you look at it and put it in the context of MILLIONS of boys who were members of the BSA and were not abused, that's when you know that this is all part of the gay campaign to try to get homosexuals into the leadership positions of the BSA.

Yes, the BSA...in some instances...did a poor to nonexistent job of policing the adult volunteers in the BSA in a small number of troops over a number of decades. In the past, the BSA had no national policy on how to deal with and background were rarely performed on adult volunteers. They perform background checks on BSA leaders and adult volunteers today. When an incidcent came to light, most local BSA leaders didn't know how to handle it and most, they just wanted it to go away. That was wrong.

What happened in the past was a tragedy and it never should have happened...BUT...

...that is no justification to allow homosexuals...men who like males...into the BSA. The vast majority of Boy Scout troops never had this problem. Mine didn't. I am a former Eagle Scout who is strongly against their effort to infiltrate their brand of perversion into the BSA.

Now, the latest tactic by the gays-in the-Boy Scouts advocates is to try to pretend that these child rapists were heterosexual males. Olders males preying on younger males are heterosexual? That's the big gay lie. There are both homosexual and heterosexual pedophiles...and I say that older males raping boys are homosexual pedophiles.

[tmittelstaed]

You are out of your mind there have been many Gay Scouts over the years, anyone with long experience in Scouting knew who they were. They just didn't talk about it and nobody asked - where do you think Clinton got the DADT military policy from? And the facts are that pedos are NOT homosexuals for a very simple and obvious reason - pedophiles aren't EITHER. Pedos are incapabable of having a relationship with an adult - that is why they prey on children.

The studies that claim there is a linkage have been mainly created by ultraconservative religious groups with an axe to grind. They have been routinely disproved by the scientific community. Here's a link to the most common ones and why they are flawed:

http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html

[wiseoldsnail]

what tmittelstaed said.

this comment ' When an incidcent came to light, most local BSA leaders didn't know how to handle it ' is ridiculous. they knew exactly what the law required they do about it, and chose not to do it.

if you were a scout before a few years ago, you were a scout with other scouts who happened to be gay, and with scout leaders who happened to be gay. nothing bad happened to you, which is proof that your theory that gay scouts and leaders are somehow a threat to straight boy scouts.

the fact that you seem more concerned with homosexuals being in bsa than you are with the proven fact that many many boy scouts were raped by seemingly and self-proclaimed straight men is disgusting.