Boy Scouts helped alleged molesters cover tracks, files show

[EvolveOrConvolve]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-boy-scouts-files-20120916,0,6937684.story

Over two decades, the Boy Scouts of America failed to report hundreds of alleged child molesters to police and often hid the allegations from parents and the public.

A Los Angeles Times review of 1,600 confidential files dating from 1970 to 1991 has found that Scouting officials frequently urged admitted offenders to quietly resign — and helped many cover their tracks.

...

In the majority of cases, the Scouts learned of alleged abuse after it had been reported to authorities. But in more than 500 instances, the Scouts learned about it from boys, parents, staff members or anonymous tips.

...

In a 1987 case in Washington state, a district executive wrote to the national office complaining that his boss had refused to put a former scoutmaster on the blacklist, despite a molestation conviction, "because he has done so much for camp and is a nice guy."

I posted this here because BSA is almost an arm of the Mormon church, and non-Mormon troops are often sponsored by churches and religious organizations.

[Lint Head]

1. Maybe they're working on a Merit Badge for hiding the most molesters.

[pnwmom]

2. So it seems any institution that works with children seems to have had a problem with pedophiles

and an automatic reaction to cover it up.

[trotsky]

4. Yet the abuses of your church still stand alone.

Pretty foul that you would use this revelation to try and deflect criticism of your church.

[rug]

5. Not nearly as foul as using pedophilia to support your anti-Catholic agenda.

Oh, wait, maybe the sex abuse scandals changed your benevolent view of the RCC.



Nah, you're just gleefully using it as ammunition to support your pre-existing cause.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Though in one of these cases, the cover-up was by a Catholic priest who was himself a rapist

Lazzareschi "admitted his role in the act" and said he'd never done it before, the file states. He was expelled from Scouting and told to stay away from the boy. Nothing in the file indicates the Scouts called police.

The records do show that the boy was counseled "with positive results" by the Rev. Edmond C. Micarelli, the camp's Catholic chaplain.

"Upon Father Micarelli's recommendation, the parents were not notified," a report states.

Micarelli's reasoning was not explained. But in 1990, he also wound up on the blacklist after a man told a Scouting official that the priest had raped him and his younger brother as boys. In 2002, the Diocese of Providence paid $13.5 million to 36 victims who sued Micarelli and 10 other priests, alleging sex abuse dating to at least 1975.

[trotsky]

8. Oh dear.

I guess it shouldn't be a surprise to see pedophiles at the intersection of these groups.

[Cannikin]

3. This man molested his scouts for years.

I quit because of him. Nobody in town would listen. Eventually, one of his victims committed suicide and another committed a double murder because of him. He is in jail now, hopefully forever. Don't ever let the Boyscouts forget how they turned their backs on my town.

http://ordinaryevil.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/boy-scout-rapist/

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. To be fair, there's nothing in the article about Mormons, though there is a Catholic priest (nt)

[pnwmom]

9. To be fair, there have been cases of child molestation

by clergy and laypeople who are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim; cases by public and private school teachers; cases connected with Penn State and Syracuse Universities; cases by children's organizations such as the Boy Scouts and The Second Mile.

Wherever people have access to children, there will be pedophiles.

[skepticscott]

10. And in how many of those cases

has the organization in question not only covered up the crimes, failing to report them to the proper authorities, but also abetted the crimes by transferring known offenders to new posts where they can hunt fresh game, telling no one who might care to know about their past history?

[trotsky]

11. "Everybody does it"

...seems to be the common refrain among those seeking to defend their church from critics. They don't like to address the facts you bring up, which makes their church uniquely putrid.

[skepticscott]

12. One might also ask

which of those other groups has claimed the moral authority to dictate other people's behavior through law.

I'd ask pwnmom, but I suspect I'd get no more of a coherent answer than last time.