Boy Scouts 'Perversion Files' were Kept Secret to Protect Children, Really?
Read the report below of how many instances including one in particular were kept secret from the public to allegedly protect children but what it really did was cause mistrust from the parents and others in the organization. The files claim to be a proven record they were 'handling' abuse allegations but why did they keep it quiet from the public? This is a covered cover-up!!
The Eagle Tribune reports:
In early 1977, allegations about an assistant scoutmaster having sex with boys rocked the old St. Joseph’s Church in Haverhill, then home for Boy Scout Troop 27.
Stories grew rampant about the 27-year-old scout leader inviting boys to stay overnight at his home, where indecent exposure and fondling were common. One boy accused the troop leader of performing “an unnatural act” on him.
A father who was on the troop committee consulted with a lawyer and the police for assistance after reporting that his son was a victim of sexual abuse by an adult leader “who should not be allowed to stay in scouting.”
But despite the controversy, police never prosecuted the assistant scoutmaster for the alleged sexual crimes. Neither he nor the Boy Scouts were named as defendants in any lawsuits.
When confronted by the chairman of the troop committee, the man refused to meet with the committee to discuss the allegations, resigned abruptly and moved out of the city within a month.
“It was decided by the Troop Committee, with the support of the parents of the boys that were involved, and the Pastor of the Church that no legal action take place,” the troop committee member wrote in a letter to the national office of the Boy Scouts of America more than a year later.Though never criminally charged, the former Haverhill scout leader was barred from further participation in scouting. The Boy Scouts denied his application to be a scoutmaster in Rochester, N.Y., four years later because his name had been placed in scouting’s ineligible volunteer files – essentially a confidential blacklist created more than 80 years ago to protect scouts from known or suspected abusers.
Documents about the ex-assistant scoutmaster from Haverhill Troop 27 finally became public last Thursday as part of 14,500 pages of the so-called “perversion files” released by the scouts under an order of the Oregon Supreme Court. He is one of some 1,200 alleged child molesters throughout the nation who were privately banned from scouting for complaints of abuse over a 20-year period from 1965 to 1985.
The files released last week contain details on proven child molesters as well as unsubstantiated allegations.
Why were the files kept secretly anyway?
“The reason the files were kept in the first place were to prevent recidivists from abusing scouts in one location and relocating across the country and rejoining scouting and hurting children again,”report said.
“That (Haverhill case) shows that in at least that instance, the safeguards were successful. They did what they were supposed to do. This individual was flagged and was prohibited from further participation in scouting,” he said.
“The Boy Scouts of America have been fighting pedophilia for years and have been getting better at it. Today, it’s a different world, and the reason is different: we have gotten better over time of isolating these folks and preventing them from continuing their abuse. The standards of today far exceed the standards of 30 or 40 years ago,” he said.Our take: We still don't understand why they had to hide everything from the public. Did they think they could keep it secret forever? This expose' only shows that the Boys Scouts of America was never, ever safe for children in many instances. We hate to see organizations be revealed as tainted goods. It's truly a shame and a disservice to the scouts, the parents and America!! This, our friends, is worst than the Penn State sex scandal!!
Report from the Eagle Tribune
