Local men included in Boys Scouts of America's "perversion files"

Posted at: 10/19/2012 6:38 PM | Updated at: 10/19/2012 6:47 PM
By: Lynette Adams | WHEC.com

News10NBC learned nearly a dozen people in our area were included in the "perversion files" The Boy Scouts of America released Thursday. The documents include sex abuse claims involving children.

News10NBC found the records of about a dozen men in our area. Scout leaders who the boy scouts suspected of child sexual abuse. These are people who would have served at least 25 years ago.

The Boy Scouts of America released nearly 15,000 pages of scout leaders from 1965 to 1985 who they had kept records on. These were people who had been accused or convicted of a crime against a child. Some of their cases involved boy scouts.

One local case involved a 12-year-old boy, beaten for several days and sodomized by other scouts at the Boy Scout camp in the Adirondacks. According to the records, the boy told his scout leader and the leader did nothing. The man was charged with a misdemeanor for failing to address the situation and he resigned from the boy scouts.

Out of the dozen men in the Rochester area, News10NBC was able to find only one still alive. He's 75-years-old and works in downtown Rochester. News10NBC asked if he wanted to comment on this story, he declined, saying, "As you can imagine, I have no comment. This comes as a big surprise.” 

Five of the former scout leaders have since passed, and News10NBC was unable to locate the other six. Most of the men would be at least 75-years-old.

News10NBC caught up with Mary Whittier at the annual fundraising dinner for the Bivona Child Advocacy Center. She says while this is disturbing, the result may be positive.

Mary Whittier, Bivona Child Advocacy Center, said, “We need to talk as openly about this issue as we do about AIDS, breast cancer. We need to lift the veil of secrecy, that’s what's going to keep it from happening in the first place.”

The Boy Scouts of America apologized to the victims and their families. A statement from the national organization states it has changed its policies tremendously to protect children and the local Seneca Waterways Council released a statement saying background checks, screening, comprehensive training and mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse are among the numerous youth protection policies in place.

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