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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Supreme Court releases Boy Scouts' 'perversion files'
PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Boy Scouts of America released decades of so-called "perversion files" Thursday, showing how a range of authorities -- from police to pastors -- quietly allowed scoutmasters and others accused of molesting children to go free.
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 did nothing, seeking to protect Scouting's reputation.
The confidential papers, released by order of the Oregon Supreme Court, are a window on a much larger collection of documents the Boy Scouts began collecting soon after their founding in 1910. The files contain details about proven molesters but also unsubstantiated allegations.
The Associated Press obtained copies of the files weeks ahead of their release and conducted an extensive review, but agreed not to publish the stories until the files were released.
At a news conference, Portland attorney Kelly Clark criticized the Boy Scouts for their continuing legal battles to keep the full collection of files secret.
"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.
In a statement on Thursday, Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said, "There is nothing more important than the safety of our Scouts." Smith said there have been times when Scouts' responses to sex abuse allegations were "plainly insufficient, inappropriate, or wrong," and the organization extends its "deepest and sincere apologies to victims and their families."
In one case from the files, a distraught mother walked into a Louisiana sheriff's office in 1965 and said a 31-year-old scoutmaster had raped one of her sons and molested two others.
Six days later, the scoutmaster sat down in front of a microphone in the same station and confessed: He admitted to raping a 17-year-old boy on a camping trip and otherwise sexually molesting two other boys. The victims corroborated his confession.
Seven days later, the decision was made not to pursue charges against him.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 19, 2012 A18
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