The Oregonian - February 15, 2011
Alleging child abuse, Portland lawyers file another suit against the Boy Scouts
By Tom Hallman Jr., The Oregonian
Lawyers for a Portland man who claims he was continually abused during a seven-year period filed a $5.2 million lawsuit Tuesday against the Boy Scouts, saying the organization had plenty evidence that a troop leader was a serial child molester, but did nothing to keep him from harming others.
In the past month, the attorneys have filed suits similar to Tuesday's in Alaska, Kentucky and New Mexico on behalf of other alleged childhood victims. Kelly Clark, with the firm O'Donnell Clark & Crew, said this Portland case was particularly egregious.
"The abuse was serious and sustained," he said. "Of the 300 cases I've handled, I can't think of one where there was so much notice of danger."
Clark said the plaintiff -- now in his 30s and a member of the Armed Services -- was a member of Cub Scout Den No. 312, which was a part of the Boy Scout program.
He claims the plaintiff was sexually abused on "hundreds of occasions" from 1981 to 1988 by James F. Hogan, who served at various times as a Scout volunteer, assistant Scoutmaster and Scoutmaster.
Hogan's name came up in 2010 when a Portland jury awarded $18.5 million to punish the Boy Scouts for the abuse that a former Southeast Portland Scout suffered in the 1980s. The case was later settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. At the time, jurors considered more than 1,000 confidential Boy Scout files from 1965 to 1985 to judge the Scouts' liability.
In 1974, Boy Scout leaders confronted Hogan over reports he had been kissing and hugging boys he oversaw through a troop sponsored by the Portland Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The file recounted one formerly "enthusiastic" Scout's reaction to a meeting with Hogan.
The boy "took off his uniform and threw it and his books into the closet and has not taken them out to this day," the internal report said.
The file said Hogan had repeated questionable contact with Scouts, but the file contains no record that Boy Scouts reported him to police. They did ban Hogan from Scouting -- but only for a time. In 1981, church leaders asked that Hogan be reinstated because they concluded the earlier accusations against him weren't true.
The Boy Scouts relented and restored Hogan as a volunteer. Nine years later, they put him back on their list of banned volunteers after he abused two boys he met at the church and pleaded guilty to sodomy.
In a 2010 story, Hogan told The Oregonian in an e-mail that he didn't have much memory of how the Boy Scouts handled his case.
"I do take full responsibility for my actions and carry a heavy burden of pain, sorrow and regret both for those young men who have been injured and also for my wife, children and grandchildren who are re-injured each time these things are brought forth."
On Tuesday, attorney Paul Mones said the abuse occurred at a time when the Boy Scouts had "ample knowledge" of sex abuse by adult leaders. He said this case was just another instance where an institution failed to protect children under the institution's care.
Clark described the plaintiff as "emotionally shut down."
He said when another family member talked about allegedly being abused by Hogan, it reopened wounds and the plaintiff decided to file suit against the Boy Scouts to hold them accountable and "get to the bottom of this."
The suit names the Boy Scouts of America and the Cascade Pacific Council.
In a prepared statement, Deron Smith, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, said that "abuse is – and has always been – unacceptable and the Boy Scouts of America extends its sympathies to the victims." Smith said Tuesday was the first he'd heard about the suit.
The statement also noted that the organization has "continued to develop and enhance efforts to protect youth through effective screening of volunteers, including local review and national criminal background checks, clear policies that prohibit one-on-one contact between adults and youth members and rigorous youth protection and abuse recognition training across our entire organization."
Clark said the Mormon church had previously reached a settlement with his client. If the case against the Scouts is not settled out of court, Clark said he expects the case to go before a Multnomah County jury sometime in 2012.
– Tom Hallman Jr.
-- Aimee Green contributed to this report
This article was found at:
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The Oregonian - February 15, 2011
By Aimee Green, The Oregonian
Attorneys for a man who was molested by a Southeast Portland Boy Scout leader in the 1980s filed suit this morning, claiming that the Boy Scouts of America and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints failed to protect the man from abuse as a boy even though they knew his leader was a notorious pedophile.
The suit is another in a string of lawsuits filed by Portland attorneys Paul Mones and Kelly Clark. Last spring, they won a nearly $20 million verdict against the Boy Scouts for one childhood victim of former Scout leader Timur Dykes, before agreeing to a settlement for an undisclosed amount on behalf of that victim and five others. In the past month, the attorneys have filed suits similiar to today’s in Alaska, Kentucky and New Mexico on behalf of other alleged childhood victims.
In a news release this morning, Mones said the goal is to prevent future child abuse, as well as to obtain justice for victims.
The lawsuit doesn't list defendants by name, although a news release faults the Boy Scouts and the Mormon church. Steve English, an attorney for the church, said he doesn't think the church is a defendant.
“While the church always and absolutely condemns child abuse -- and its heart and prayers go out to any victim of child abuse -- our understanding is the church is not a defendant in this case,” English said.
Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said in a written statement that the 101-year-old organization has been vigilant in taking measures to protect children by "effective screening of volunteers, including local review and national criminal background checks" and "policies that prohibit one-on-one contact between adults."
"Abuse is - and has always been - unacceptable," Smith wrote. "The Boy Scouts of America extends its sympathies to the victims."
Mones and Clark will hold a news conference at 1:30 p.m. to talk about more details of the suit, including the amount they are seeking.
The suit filed today claims that an unnamed man was abused by James F. Hogan, now 72, when the man was a boy from 1981 to 1988. Hogan was a leader in Cub Scout and Boy Scout troops chartered by a Mormon Church Ward in Southeast Portland.
The suit alleges that the Boy Scouts of America and the Mormon Church leadership knew Hogan had molested many children before he abused the plaintiff in today’s suit. According to the suit, the two organization received at least 17 separate complaints or reports over a 14-year period about concerns that Hogan was sexually inappropriate with boys while working with Mormon-chartered troops in Portland and Redlands, Calif. Among them was a complaint that Hogan had showered naked with boys, and that he had molested several boys, according to Mones and Clark.
"It is simply inconceivable," Clark was quoted as saying in a news release. "We will show that the abuse this boy suffered was entirely preventable. All the Boy Scouts or the Mormon Church had to do was pick up the phone and call the police. They heard over and over again that this man was sexually abusing young boys."
Hogan pleaded guilty in 1989 to sexually abusing a young relative and two boys he met through his position as a janitor. Two victims filed a civil suit against the church, which was settled.
In 2008, a Portland man sued Hogan claiming Hogan sexually abused him while employed by the church. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount.
This article was found at:
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Scout leader charged in boy's sex assault
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/08/17/mb-sexual-assault-exploitation-arrest-winnipeg.html
A 39-year-old man who led an outdoor program for Scouts Canada has been charged with the sexual exploitation and assault of a teenage boy in Winnipeg.
According to police, a number of sexual offences were committed against the victim by the man, Stuart Garrett Young, between May 2009 and May 2011.
The victim's age was not revealed. However, Scouts Canada said Young was with an outdoor program for kids between the ages of 14 and 17.
Officials said the alleged incidents happened outside of organized activities. They have offered counselling to the victim and his family.
The organization said Young, like all volunteers, underwent security checks every three years, most recently in 2009.
He has volunteered with Scouts Canada for 14 years and has been suspended from the organization.
A search warrant was executed Aug. 11 at a residence near Niakwa Road and St. Anne's Road, in the city's St. Vital neighbourhood, and Young was arrested without incident, police said.
Police spokeswoman Const. Natalie Aitken said the parents of other children in the Scouts organization have been notified.
Young has been released from police custody on a promise to appear in court in October.
With files from The Canadian Press
Scouts failed to stop sexual predator. Pedophile moved from troop to troop in B.C., California.
ReplyDeleteby CBC News October 21, 2011
Boy Scouts of America leaders knew for years about incidents involving a Canadian pedophile who preyed on boys in the U.S. but failed to stop him as he moved back to Canada, where he continued his abuse. The organization sometimes even helped him go undetected by authorities, an investigation by CBC-TV's The Fifth Estate and the Los Angeles Times has found.
Scouts Canada learned of his inappropriate behaviour in the 1980s and kicked him out, but nearly a decade passed before police charged him with crimes. Throughout the 1970s and '80s, Richard Turley was involved with the Scouts across California and British Columbia, molesting at least eight scouts.
"It was easy," the 58-year-old, who now lives in Alberta, says about how he used scouting to target his victims. "Kids were easily accessible."
The CBC investigation, which can be seen in full Friday night on The Fifth Estate, http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/ catalogued nearly 80 cases in Canada, dating from the 1950s, where either active or former scout leaders committed crimes ranging from sexual assault to possession of child pornography. More than 300 children were abused by leaders while they were active in the movement.
In 1975, Turley did what he describes as the “craziest, stupid, bizarre thing” he would ever do. California newspaper headlines from 1975 dubbed it a “wild abduction tale.” In a stolen single-engine Cessna, Turley kidnapped Ed Iris, an 11-year-old Nova Scotia boy living in La Puente, Calif., whom Turley had met while visiting a local scout troop.
A day earlier, he'd shown up at Iris’s house, telling Ed’s mother he was “one of Canada’s top scouts leaders” and asking if he could show the boy around town.
“He had badges all over the place,” says Iris, now 47 and living in Ontario. “He had his Canadian scouting book. It was impressive to a kid.” Turley took the boy on a fun-filled day in the San Diego area. That night, the two slept in a car inside Turley’s double sleeping bag covered in scouts merit patches, said Iris. Turley later admitted to molesting the boy, though Iris says he slept through it.
In the morning, Turley stole a Cessna at a regional airport, vowing to take Ed back to Canada. With the plane low on fuel, though, Turley was soon forced to land. Turley, then 21, was arrested and later pleaded guilty to child stealing. At trial, a judge committed him to a state hospital as a “mentally disordered sex offender.” Police files obtained by The Fifth Estate and the Los Angeles Times show that Boy Scouts of America knew about the incident because they helped officers search for Iris and Turley.
Though the Boy Scouts of America have a decades-old practice of creating “confidential files” recording individuals barred from the group for sex abuse allegations — a system aimed at preventing pedophiles from hopping from troop to troop — it appears no file was created on Turley at that time.
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In November 1976, 18 months after Turley’s arrival at the Patton State Hospital, he was deemed well enough to be released. The judge ordered him to return to Canada and report for probation if he re-entered the U.S. Within a year, Turley returned to Southern California to work at a Boy Scout camp near San Diego, an hour's drive from the hospital. He spent the next three summers working for the camp.
On the last day of camp in July 1979, Turley arranged to stay an extra night with three boys from the Orange County troop. All three were molested that night, according to a confidential file later created by the Boy Scouts of America.
The next morning, one boy told his father, a scoutmaster, about the abuse. The camp director, John LaBare, confronted Turley and “he readily admitted what he had done, expressed concern for his actions, immediately packed and returned to Canada,” according to a letter in Turley’s U.S. “perversion file.” The camp, meanwhile, was told Turley had returned home due to family problems.
Behind the scenes, camp officials requested that the Boy Scouts of America’s Texas-based national office create a “confidential file,” informally known as a “perversion file,” on Turley. “The parents of the three boys agreed not to press charges if he would leave, but are quite prepared to do so if they hear of his involvement with scouting,” Scouts executive Buford Hill wrote.
Hill told the Los Angeles Times that he was following recommendations of the Boy Scouts of America at the time.
“I don’t remember what we decided, other than we didn’t want this person on our staff,” Hill said. “Hopefully, he went back to Canada and that was their problem.”
In a written statement to the Los Angeles Times, Boy Scouts of America stated that within 25 hours of learning of Turley's conduct, they expelled him. "In the 30 years since then, the BSA has continued to enhance its youth protection efforts as society has increased its understanding of the dangers children face," wrote spokesman Deron Smith.
When Turley was shown the 1979 confidential U.S. file created by the Scouts on him, however, he shook his head in amazement that officials had not contacted police. “That probably would have put a stop to me years and years ago,” said Turley in an interview at an Alberta motel where he works as a manager and handyman. “And yet I went back to the Scouts again and again as a leader and offended against the boys until they came forward.”
Others were shocked Turley even made it into the Scouts after his kidnapping conviction and commitment as a sex offender. “He should have never been there in the first place,” the scoutmaster whose son was allegedly molested by Turley told the Los Angeles Times.
Though The Fifth Estate found documents showing that Scouts Canada and its American counterpart have traded information about pedophiles banned from their organizations, it appears the two did not share information about Turley. By August of 1979, Turley had returned to the Victoria area, and within a few years, he’d begun leading a local scouts troop.
Court records show that Turley took scouts on camping trips once or twice a month, often luring boys to his tent by offering warmth or comfort. He used skinny-dipping as a pretense to molest boys and plied them with alcohol. In his Victoria home, stocked with ice cream, candy, alcohol and porn, he entertained an endless number of boys, including scouts. “He had an Atari and worked for a candy company and his cupboard was full of candy,” said Jason Davies, one of his victims. “This is where we wanted to go after Scouts.”
While a Scouts Canada leader, Turley also organized trips to the U.S. with his troop and recalls filing paperwork with the Boy Scouts of America to have the visits approved.
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ReplyDeleteJean Buydens, a scouting supervisor, recalls hearing whispers about parties where Turley offered boys beer and camp outings where he shared tents with boys. “I was very suspicious of that,” says Buydens, adding she passed on what she heard.
The Fifth Estate spoke to parents, victims and Scouts executives familiar with Turley and found no evidence executives called in the police to investigate. Turley says he was never contacted by police at that time. Scouts Canada said it won’t comment on specific cases. An assistant scoutmaster had also complained about Turley sharing his tent with boys, but the meddling assistant was moved to another troop, CBC News has learned.
As rumours persisted in the mid-1980s, Scout House, the regional headquarters, asked Turley to resign. Scouts Canada added him to a “confidential list,” sources say. The exact date is unknown. “It should have been handled differently,” says Buydens. “I absolutely wish now that I had thought about going to police rather than Scout House, but I thought talking to Scout House would be enough.”
In 1988, Turley sexually assaulted a child at a swimming pool. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and banned from associating with youth groups such as Scouts, YMCA and the Little League. It was not until 1995 that police began their first large-scale investigation into Turley – 16 years after the Boy Scouts of America created a “perversion file” and nearly a decade after its Canadian counterpart put him on their “confidential list.”
In the end, it was not the Scouts organization that informed Saanich, B.C., police, but rather a suspicious girlfriend. Turley was convicted in 1996 of sexually abusing four boys, three of whom were scouts, but later admitted to having at least a dozen victims.
During an undercover sting, Turley later admitted to an officer that being involved with the Scouts organization was a “good way to recruit young boys.” Turley served five years in prison and seven years of long-term supervised parole, which he completed in 2009.
When The Fifth Estate and the Los Angeles Times tracked him down in Alberta earlier this year, Turley said his sexual impulses are now under control thanks to an intense sex-offender program he underwent. He’s no longer that “monster” moving from “troop to troop picking out people who I thought would be easy to offend against,” he said. “Rick Turley today is a caring loving person who just wants to stay below the radar.”
But he added that he believes the very nature of Scouts made it an easy place to find targets. “If I look back at my own self, the availability, the trust that was involved with the parents at the time,” said Turley. “I was … the nice guy, who wanted to do everything.”
Much in Scouts has changed since the 1970s and 1980s when Turley used the movement to find his victims. Since 1997, Scouts Canada has required police record checks, reference checks and a special screening interview for all adult volunteers and staff. The organization’s policies dictates that individuals accused of any sexual abuse are immediately suspended and then investigated, with information passed along to police and child protection authorities.
Scouts Canada also has a stringent “two-deep rule” requiring that two fully screened, registered leaders be present with youth at all times. Turley recalls always having adult leaders present on his Scouts outings. “It didn’t stop anything,” he says.
Seattle-based lawyer Tim Kosnoff, who has viewed the U.S. “perversion files,” says historically the U.S. Boy Scouts “routinely” chose not to notify police when aware of child molesters, instead noting them in their own secret files.
Despite all the changes made to the Scouts organization, Turley maintains that “Scouting is still a flawed movement.” “If I was a parent, I would never put my kids in Scouts.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/10/20/scouts-turley-pedophile-list.html
Scouts Canada sex settlements kept secret
ReplyDeleteCBC News October 24, 2011
CBC News has learned that Scouts Canada has signed out-of-court confidentiality agreements with more than a dozen child sex-abuse victims in recent years, shielding the incidents from further media attention. In many of the agreements, a confidentiality clause prevents victims from revealing the amount paid or even the fact that there was a settlement. At least one bars a former boy scout from publicly divulging that the abuse took place. Scouts Canada has refused to disclose details about any of the settlements. Sources tell CBC News that some settlements were around $200,000. “An organization like Scouts has some advantages in trying to keep this quiet,” says Rob Talach, a London, Ont., -based lawyer. “Their core message and their core objective in society is a morally positive one.”
CBC’s investigative unit searched civil court records across the country and found a total of 24 lawsuits filed against Scouts Canada since 1995. Of those, plaintiffs in 13 lawsuits have signed confidentiality agreements. In all the civil suits, plaintiffs accused the youth organization of failing in some way to protect them during incidents spanning the 1960s to ‘90s. Confidentiality agreements are common in the business world, but some people question their use when dealing with the sensitive topic of child sex abuse.
“Scouts Canada has never in my particular case admitted any responsibility or ownership of the problem,” said one victim, who signed a confidentiality agreement and spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Scouts Canada was interested in minimizing the financial cost to them and to making sure that nobody else ever found out about it.”
One plaintiff, whose confidentiality agreement forbade him from publicly revealing any details about the abuse, said the silence is difficult.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” said the victim who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “And my real instincts in this are to get on a hill and just shout it out.” Opening up about the abuse felt like a “giant leap” off a cliff, he says, but it was followed by a cheque contingent on keeping it “a secret again for the rest of my life.”
Other confidentiality agreements were less restrictive, but required that the victims not disclose the amount of the settlement or even its existence. Even those victims felt muzzled by the contract. “The fact that you’re not allowed to talk about it, you feel victimized again,” said Mark Johnston, who broke his agreement to speak about the settlement. “How can you make sure people are aware that this kind of stuff can happen if you don’t talk about it?” “If you remain totally silent, then it’s just going to happen again.” ...
...
Seattle-based sex-abuse lawyer Tim Kosnoff says confidentiality agreements are designed with one aim in mind. “It’s about institutional protection,” said Kosnoff. “This is a multi-billion dollar institution. They have a powerful, valuable brand.” “[The Boy Scouts] just happen to be in the business of selling an image of wholesomeness and which the American public has accepted.”
Kosnoff, who has represented clients alleging abuse by Scouts, the Catholic Church and other large organizations, says he won’t allow his clients to sign agreements with confidentiality clauses. “It’s the same immoral behavior led to the abuse in the first instance,” says Kosnoff. “They don’t want to help [victims], they want to silence them forever.” ...
read the full article at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/10/23/scouts-canada-settlements-secrecy.html
Open up Scouts Canada’s pedophile list: B.C. sex-abuse victim
ReplyDeleteCBC News October 24, 2011
A British Columbia man whose scout leader molested him is furious that Scouts Canada won't tell the public how many of its leaders have sexually abused former scouts like himself. "I'd like to see the stats on how many victims in Canada there are due to the Boy Scouts," says the 52-year-old man, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
An investigation by CBC-TV’s The Fifth Estate found that since the 1950s, more than 300 children have been abused by scout leaders active in the Canadian movement. The investigative program unearthed proof that for decades Scouts Canada kept what they called a "confidential list" of pedophiles barred from its ranks, in an effort to prevent them from re-entering other troops.
The youth organization says it records the names of suspended or terminated volunteer leaders, but says it doesn’t keep “secret lists” or “secret files.” Scouts Canada stresses that under current policy, it suspends individuals immediately upon hearing a complaint, then reports it to the police. “That is true now and, as far as we can determine, that is true of years past,” Scouts Canada spokesman John Petitti said in an email.
The former B.C. scout says the organization didn’t do enough to protect him when he was being molested by his scout leader, John Roper, for over five years in the 1970s. Roper had already molested another boy scout in Burlington, Ont., nearly a decade earlier. Halton, Ont., police would later describe his assaults as a “carbon copy” of each other.
“I still feel so ripped off,” the B.C. man says. “It wasn’t right. We should have been protected.” Roper, a British-born former civil servant, joined the scouting movement after moving to Canada in the 1950s. He admitted to having sexual relations with boys until 1985, at which time he says he began abstaining from sex.
In 1997, Roper was convicted for sexually abusing the scout in B.C. He received a conditional sentence. Five years later, the former Ontario scout came forward about the earlier offences, leading to other charges that left Roper behind bars.
The B.C. man questions how the Scouts didn’t clue into the sexual assaults. “They’re dealing with the safety of children,” he said. “They should know something about what was going on. And I think they let us down.”
His abuse began in 1970, at the age of nine. It happened numerous times over the next five years, often on scouting trips and sleepovers, and only stopped when the boy’s family moved. The B.C. man recalls a time when the two made snowshoes from coat hangars and rope, then hiked at a nearby mountain to test the makeshift snowshoes out. When the scout became ill, Roper put him in a bed at a lodge to rest. “I fell asleep ‘cause I was running a fever and I felt sick,” the man said. “And I woke up and guess who’s there, doing things.”
The B.C. sex-abuse victim sued Roper, forcing him to sell his east Vancouver house, which stood next to an elementary school. He filed a lawsuit in 1997 against the Boy Scouts of Canada, alleging the group bore some responsibility for the sex abuse, but later dropped the civil suit. The organization denied all the allegations made in the lawsuit.
“They didn’t pay. They didn’t say they were sorry,” said the man. “They just covered their ass and ran.”
Scouts Canada has refused to comment on specific cases.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/10/23/canada-scouts-roper-pedophile.html
Boy Scouts failed to report abuser
ReplyDeleteBy Jason Felch & Kim Christensen, LA Times
October 29, 2011
Rick Turley was 18 when he learned that Scouting offered a unique opportunity to meet boys. He would show up in a uniform with a sash full of merit badges, charm parents with claims of being a "top" leader and offer to take their preteen boys out for a swim or drive. Then, often after plying them with alcohol, he would fondle or rape them — once going so far as to kidnap a boy in a stolen plane. Over nearly two decades, Turley molested at least 15 children in Southern California and British Columbia, most of whom he met through American and Canadian Scouting, a Los Angeles Times and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. investigation has found. Scouting officials on both sides of the border not only failed to stop him, but sometimes helped cover his tracks, according to confidential Scouting records, court files and interviews with victims, families and Scout leaders. At one point in 1979, Boy Scouts of America officials decided not to call police after Turley admitted molesting three Orange County boys, the organization's records show.
"We were following exactly the national recommendations of the Boy Scouts of America and its board who set up the rules," said A. Buford Hill Jr., a former Orange County Scouting executive, in a recent interview. "You do not want to broadcast to the entire population that these things happen. You take care of it quietly and make sure it never happens again." But it did. Turley returned to British Columbia, signed on with Scouts Canada, which is separate from its U.S. counterpart, and continued his abuses for at least a decade. Turley, now 58, is still surprised at how often he got away with it. "It was easy," he said in an interview this month at the Alberta truck-stop motel where he now works.
Turley is one of more than 5,000 suspected child molesters named in confidential files kept by the Boy Scouts of America. The documents — called the "perversion files" by the organization — include unsubstantiated tips as well as admissions of guilt. Those records have surfaced in recent years in lawsuits by former Scouts, accusing the group of failing to exclude known pedophiles, detect abuses or turn in offenders to the police. The Oregon Supreme Court is now weighing a request by newspapers, a wire service and broadcasters to open about 1,200 more files in the wake of a nearly $20-million judgment in a Portland sex abuse case last year.
The Scouts' handling of sex-abuse allegations echoes that of the Catholic Church in the face of accusations against its priests, some attorneys say. "It's the same institutional reaction: scandal prevention," said Seattle attorney Timothy Kosnoff, who has filed seven suits in the last year by former Scouts but was not involved in the Oregon case.
Current Boy Scouts of America officials declined to be interviewed and would not say how many files exist or what is in them. ... In the 1980s, the Boy Scouts began requiring that at least two adults be present for troop activities. The following decade, it mandated criminal background checks for staffers, a requirement that was expanded to the organization's nearly 1 million volunteers in 2008. Last year, it required child abuse prevention training as well. All suspicions of sexual misconduct must now be reported to police. Those measures would likely have stopped Turley had they been in place decades ago. Instead, the Scouts' national policy had long recommended keeping abuse and other misconduct a secret. ...
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-scouts-molest-story,0,3130016.htmlstory
Vancouver scout leader facing sex charges was already suspended
ReplyDeleteCBC News June 4, 2009
A B.C. scout leader facing sex-assault charges was under suspension by the organization on an unrelated complaint when the charges were laid, an official says.
Vancouver police said Thursday they arrested and charged Eddie Au, 34, of Richmond with sexual exploitation and assault. The charges stem from alleged incidents between November 2007 and April 2009 when Au is alleged to have had contact with a child in a sexual manner.
"Our investigators will be working hard to follow up with the victim to establish a timeline as far as going back a number of years," Const. Lindsey Houghton said.
"I wouldn't want to speculate but, depending on what evidence comes forward, there's a possibility of more charges."
Police are asking anyone with information to contact them.
Au, a volunteer for Scouts Canada in Vancouver for about 10 years, was "suspended back in April and it was due to another complaint we're currently investigating, which had nothing to do, whatsoever, with the charges the police have laid," said Susie Mackie, a communications specialist with the youth organization.
"He's relieved of all his duties and all the rights and privileges of membership, and he cannot have any contact with the scouting youth at this time," she said, without offering details about the reason for Au's suspension.
Police said Au has been released and is due back in court July 6.
No other information about the alleged incidents, the scout troop involved or the number of alleged victims was released by police.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/06/04/bc-vancouver-scout-leader-sex-charges.html
Former B.C. scout leader charged with aiding suicide
ReplyDeleteCBC News November 15, 2011
A disgraced former B.C. scout leader is facing the rare charge of counselling and aiding someone to commit suicide.
Eddie Kar Fai Au, 36, has been charged with one count each of counselling a person to commit suicide, aiding and abetting a person to commit suicide, assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm.
Vancouver police Const. Lindsay Houghton said Au was a scout master at the time of the alleged offences, but said the alleged victim was not a member of Scouts Canada.
"These are very rare charges," Houghton said.
"In any case like this, it does take lot of courage for someone to come forward, and speak with investigators and really relate what happened and put a lot of trust in us, and we're very thankful that the person was able to come forward."
Au is being held in custody and is scheduled to appear in B.C. Provincial Court on Nov. 21.
He was arrested last week in connection with incidents that occurred over an 11-year period starting in March 1998.
In April, Au pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two boys. He concocted a fake Scouts Canada physical testing program to get victims alone.
The organization's policies prohibit one-on-one contact between leaders and scouts.
A judge sentenced Au to 18 months in prison, but he was released because of time spent in pretrial custody. He was on probation at the time of his arrest.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/11/15/bc-suicide-eddie-au.html
Former boy scout leader charged with sexual assault
ReplyDeleteCBC News July 18, 2007
A former boy scout leader from Victoria, B.C., is facing three charges relating to the alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old boy almost 15 years ago.
"A substantial amount of potential evidence was located, including computers and computer data," Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill said Wednesday.
Police allege the sexual assault took place at John Viszlai's home. Viszlai, a senior computer security analyst with the B.C. Ministry of Labour, was a scout leader from 1973 to 2001 and has provided computer support to Scouts Canada as a volunteer, police said.
Suzie Mackie, a communications officer with Scouts Canada, told CBC News that Viszlai has not been involved with the organization since 2005 but was arrested at a scouting jamboree on the Sunshine coast just one week ago.
"This individual was not there working for Scouts Canada," Mackie said. "He was brought in through a contractor and he was there to provide computer, technical help and was at the jamboree for two days and would not have interacted with any youth whatsoever."
The 49-year-old has been charged with sexual assault, unlawful confinement and invitation to sexual touching. He was released on bail with conditions and is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 4.
Viszlai has also been suspended from his job without pay while the B.C. government conducts its own investigation.
"The employee was suspended without pay pending the results of a fact-finding investigation," Lori Wanamaker, the deputy labour minister, told CBC News. "This is standard government practice when someone has been charged with an offence."
Wanamaker said Viszlai's job was to monitor the security of the government's computer network and he's been with the government for about five years.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/07/18/bc-scout.html
Former Scouts Canada leader from Victoria faces new sex-related charges
ReplyDeleteCBC News January 2, 2008
A former Scouts Canada volunteer from Victoria, B.C., is facing more sex-related charges after another victim came forward.
The latest charges against John Viszlai include sexual assault and sexual touching.
Viszlai was first arrested last summer while he was at a Scouts Canada jamboree on the Sunshine Coast.
He was charged with unlawful confinement, sexual assault and invitation to sexual touching.
The new charges came after Victoria police set up a confidential tip line seeking other complainants.
Victoria police said all the allegations stem from Viszlai's role with the Scouts as a leader with the 11th Douglas troop in Victoria over the past 30 years.
Police said Wednesday Viszlai was arrested last week and police searched his home, seizing computers and other potential evidence.
Police said Viszlai has served with the Scouts in a technical capacity since 2001.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/01/02/bc-scoutleader.html
More evidence emerges on Scouts Canada 'confidential list'
ReplyDeleteCBC News November 17, 2011
More details are emerging about a "confidential list" Scouts Canada kept over the course of numerous decades that documented pedophiles who entered its ranks, including a form that was used to bar them from re-entry.
Scouts Canada CEO Janet Yale has stated that the youth organization doesn't keep records about suspected abuse or misbehavior by volunteer leaders, but does keep files "of a confidential nature" about those suspended or terminated.
CBC News has obtained a form from a file dating from 1983 that was used by Scouts Canada to request that an individual be added to their "confidential list."
Reasons listed on the form for a leader to be deemed “unacceptable” to the Boy Scouts of Canada are:
Sexual perversion (deviation).
Immorality.
Other gross misconduct.
Any conduct which could prejudice or bring disrepute on the organization.
Scouts Canada notes that the "sexual perversion" category not only pertained to sex abuse of children, but was also understood at the time to mean homosexuality and adultery.
The form includes information such as the individual's name, last known address, height, weight, date of birth, other identifying marks and last known Scouts group.
"As you would expect, we no longer invite scrutiny of such matters and they are not a credible basis for suspension or termination," said Scouts Canada spokesman John Petitti. "The current termination form uses different language."
Once filled out, the confidential forms were sent to the Ottawa-based Scouts Canada national headquarters where a national review board determined whether to place an individual on the "confidential list," sources tell CBC News.
The old 1983 confidential list form obtained by CBC News also states that the individual named is deemed "unsuitable for leadership" and references that "evidence" be enclosed.
Scouts Canada stresses that "evidence" could refer to examples of any activity or conduct that might merit suspension, not just sexual abuse.
Revelations that Scouts Canada collected evidence on suspected pedophiles has led to calls for the organization to share all of its documentation with police, in the event that some information might have been overlooked by the Scouts or authorities in the past.
"It's not incumbent upon Scouts Canada to determine what the police need. That's the police's decision," said Jeff Filliter, a forensic investigator who used to work for the RCMP. "And providing all the documents is the easiest way to do that."
Petitti says that the organization believes it shared all allegations of abuse with police.
"To the best of our knowledge, there are no examples or evidence of sexual abuse allegations in our records that have not been shared previously with police," Petitti wrote in an email.
Don Wright, founder of the counselling service B.C. Society for Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse, says even though any records would be old, they may contain information to help possible victims.
"It's important to the victims," said Wright. "If there are records of that in effect that back you up, it's very validating."
If you have more information on this story, or other investigative tips, please email investigations@cbc.ca
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/11/17/boy-scouts-confidential-list.html
More needed to help Canadian men who have been sexually abused, experts say
ReplyDeleteBY TERESA SMITH, POSTMEDIA NEWS NOVEMBER 19, 2011
... In fact, thousands of men across Canada —an estimated one in six — have been victims of sexual abuse before the age of 18. These men are haunted; some have uncontrollable fits of rage; and a disproportionate number of them are believed to be filling this country's prisons. But despite the toll such abuse has taken, victims and experts say there is still a lack of resources directed toward men, and that male victims face a unique stigma.
"I've been in an emotional prison for 25 years, and I will be for the rest of my life — there's nothing that's going to change that," Jason Davies told Postmedia News. Like many young boys who are targets of sexual predators, Davies says he was quiet and shy as a youngster. He said he was vulnerable because his parents both struggled with alcohol abuse and he said they saw Richard Turley — Davies' Boy Scout leader — as a positive influence. In 1996, Turley was convicted of assaulting four boys, three of whom were Scouts, and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Speaking from his Vancouver home, Davies, who is now 37, said that from the age of seven, he was afraid every day. After five years of consistent sexual abuse, Davies ran away from home, at age 12, to live on the streets of Victoria. He stayed there for two years. Flashbacks of his abuse still haunt him. He's on daily medication for clinical depression. Sometimes, he has panic attacks twice a day. He says he can't trust anybody, "which makes it impossible to have relationships."
Although research on the long term consequences of child sexual abuse on men is limited, experts agree many trends are clear. The majority of prison inmates across Canada have been physically or sexually abused, experts say.
Many men and women turn to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain, or to stop the memories. For many, it can be difficult to hold down a job or to maintain intimate relationships. For men in particular, promiscuity, uncontrollable rage and aggressive behaviour are common coping mechanisms as they attempt to overcompensate for what they experience as the emasculating effect of sexual abuse at the hands of an older man, said Jim Hopper, a clinical instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School, who has studied the long-term effects of sexual abuse on men.
Many who suffer from mental illness, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, have a history of sexual abuse. And, the destruction doesn't stop in the mind. The body's immune system, the stress-response system and brain function are all damaged by trauma during childhood, Hopper said. "Relative to girls, boys are socialized to not be aware of, to not express, and to not have empathy for vulnerable emotions," said Hopper. "So, when you're abused, you're hit with these overwhelming emotions, and, as a male, you're conditioned not to be able to deal with them.
"This makes it incredibly hard for them to report it, initially, and then to seek help," said Hopper who says that despite the obvious uphill battle, men who have had unwanted sexual experiences can heal with appropriate therapy. But, the road is long. And every victim's healing process is different. ...
...
Today, while there are 39 centres for female victims of abuse in Ontario alone, there are only four agencies across Canada devoted to counselling men who have been victims of sexual abuse — The Men's Project in Ottawa, Criphase in Montreal, Victoria Men's Trauma Centre in B.C., and Vancouver's B.C. Society for Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse. ...
read the full article at:
http://www.canada.com/news/More+needed+help+Canadian+have+been+sexually+abused+experts/5735855/story.html
Scouts Canada CEO leaves organization
ReplyDeleteCBC News November 21, 2011
The executive commissioner and CEO of Scouts Canada has left the organization, CBC News has learned.
In her letter of resignation, Janet Yale says her departure involves "philosophical differences" over the future direction of Scouts Canada that developed over months, and is not connected with a CBC News investigation that revealed Scouts Canada had signed out-of-court confidentiality agreements with more than a dozen child sex-abuse victims in recent years, shielding the incidents from media attention.
In an email sent to CBC News, Steve Kent, the organization's chief commissioner and chair of its board of governors, confirmed the board had accepted Yale's resignation on the weekend, and wished to "convey our thanks and appreciation for the contribution Janet has made over the past year, a year that has seen Scouting in Canada undergo a major restructuring and transition."
"I want to make it clear as Janet does in her letter [of resignation] that her decision to tender her resignation was in no way related to the recent media attention, and the staff continue to enjoy both my own and the board’s full support on this matter."
CBC’s investigative unit searched civil court records across the country and found a total of 24 lawsuits filed against Scouts Canada since 1995. Of those, 13 included confidentiality agreements, some of which prevent victims from disclosing details of any financial settlement or even the fact that one exists.
CBC also revealed Scouts Canada kept a "confidential list" of pedophiles within its ranks over the course of several decades. One form, dating from 1983 and used to request that an individual be added to the list, deemed several traits "unacceptable," including sexual perversion, immorality, other gross misconduct, or any conduct that could prejudice or bring disrepute to the organization.
Yale has stated that the youth organization doesn't keep records about suspected abuse or misbehavior by volunteer leaders, but does keep files "of a confidential nature" about those suspended or terminated. In a letter to CBC she also said any reports of suspected abuse results in the immediate suspension of the individual in question before all information is handed over to the relevant police and child protection services.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/11/21/scouts-canada-janet-yale.html
Scouts Canada apologizes to sex abuse victims
ReplyDeleteBy Amber Hildebrandt, CBC News December 8, 2011
Scouts Canada issued a blanket apology Thursday to any former scouts who were sexually abused by its volunteer leaders.
The youth organization also announced that it has hired an outside company to review its past records and appointed an expert panel to examine whether its current child protection policies are working.
Steve Kent, the organization's chief commissioner, said in a video statement that the organization "sincerely and deeply" apologizes to any and all former scouts who suffered harm at the hands of leaders.
"Our sincere efforts to prevent such crimes have not always succeeded," said Kent, who is also a Newfoundland politician. "We are sorry for that. We are saddened at any resulting harm."
The announcement comes nearly two months after an investigation by CBC-TV's The Fifth Estate found that Scouts Canada kept a "confidential list" of pedophiles barred from the organization and also signed confidentiality agreements with child sex abuse victims.
The investigation revealed that Scouts leaders abused about 340 children from the 1940s until present.
'Too little, too late'
Joey Day, who was abused by a leader in the early 1970s, says Scouts Canada's apology "isn't worth the effort."
"Too little, too late," said Day, who lives in Edmonton. "I'm 50 and [the abuse] happened to me between the ages of seven and nine."
Scouts Canada has hired consulting firm KPMG to conduct a "thorough, arms-length" review of all records held by Scouts Canada on the suspension or terminations of leaders related to abuse. The review is expected to be completed early in the New Year and the results will be made public.
Day sees promise in that news.
"That is a good thing," he said. "I'd like to see what they find. It just makes me sick to my stomach."
Day was abused when he was a B.C. Cub Scout by Canadian pedophile Richard Turley. CBC's investigation discovered that Turley used the Scouts organization for years to find boys to molest in California and B.C. Boy Scouts of America agreed not to report him to police if he left their organization. He later assaulted boys in Canada where he continued to go unreported for years.
Scouts review policy
Scouts Canada is also reviewing its child protection policies to see if they can be strengthened.
Peter Dudding, CEO of the Child Welfare League of Canada, has been asked to lead a third-party panel of experts on youth protection that will review the way the youth organization currently operates.
"The panel will conduct a thorough and complete review of all our policies and procedures and make recommendations on any additional measures to ensure they meet today’s realities and, to the best of our ability, that they meet the needs of tomorrow," said Kent.
Under current policies, Scouts Canada requires that its more than 20,000 volunteers undergo criminal record checks, reference checks and a screening interview designed to detect red flags.
A "two-deep rule" requires that two screened, registered leaders be present with youth at all times.
Scouts Canada policies state that any volunteer leader accused of sexual abuse must be immediately suspended. Police and child protection services are then notified of the complaint.
In Kent’s statement, he vowed that the organization will confirm that policies are being followed and "ensure that no exceptions to our approach exist – even in historical examples."
If you have more information on this story, or other investigative tips, please email investigations@cbc.ca.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/12/08/boy-scouts-canada.html
350 Scouts Canada sex-abuse files under review
ReplyDeleteBy Amber Hildebrandt, CBC News December 9, 2011
An outside company has begun the massive task of sifting through Scouts Canada records of suspected or alleged sex abuse, totalling about 350 cases since the 1940s, the organization says.
In a wide-ranging interview with CBC News on Friday, Steve Kent, the youth organization's chief commissioner, revealed that consulting firm KPMG received the files as early as two weeks ago.
The interview took place a day after Scouts Canada announced the external review of its confidential files, issued a blanket apology to former scouts who were sexually abused by its leaders and promised an expert panel would examine its child protection policies.
In Friday's interview, Kent repeatedly reiterated the organization's apology to any members who came to harm.
"I firmly believe that an apology is the right thing," Kent said in the interview with CBC's Diana Swain at Scouts Canada's national headquarters in Ottawa. "But that's just one step. It's important that we acknowledge how deeply sorry we are for any harm that's been done.
"But beyond that we also need to ensure that we learn from whatever mistakes occurred in the past."
Kent acknowledged that the apology was sparked by media scrutiny in recent months. An investigation by CBC-TV's The Fifth Estate that aired in October found that Scouts Canada kept a "confidential list" of pedophiles barred from the organization and discovered that Scout leaders abused more than 300 children over the past seven decades.
The chief commissioner also addressed some victims' lingering concerns.
Pressed on the controversial topic of confidentiality clauses contained in some of Scouts Canada's out-of-court settlements with child sex-abuse victims, Kent said the organization is willing to lift the secretive clauses where possible.
Scouts Canada has been criticized for including conditions that barred victims from revealing the existence of settlements in many cases but went as far as to forbid any mention of the abuse. Some victims felt muzzled and confused by the agreements.
However, Kent noted that factors such as the privacy of third parties may affect decisions about whether to fully lift confidentiality clause conditions. He encouraged victims to contact Scouts Canada to discuss the issue.
"We don't want to prevent any of those people from telling their stories, if that's helpful in their healing, if they believe that that can help others then we want to do what we can to enable that," said Kent.
Kent also said Scouts Canada's phone lines are open to sex-abuse victims if they'd like to talk about their experience. Counselling services are also available, he said.
"We want to do whatever we can to support those victims and we encourage them to contact us," said Kent. "We want to do the right thing."
If you have more information on this story, or other investigative tips, please email investigations@cbc.ca.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/12/09/scouts-.html
Scouts Canada unhappy with 'Fifth Estate' story, says lawsuit could be an option
ReplyDeleteBY TARA BRADBURY, ST. JOHN'S TELEGRAM DECEMBER 10, 2011
ST. JOHN’S — Scouts Canada is keeping its options open when it comes to taking legal action against the CBC for a report alleging it kept a confidential list of suspected pedophiles within the organization.
Chief commissioner Steve Kent denied the allegation again Friday, saying the organization feels elements of The Fifth Estate report, which aired a few weeks ago, were misleading.
"The most unfortunate part is that some of the CBC coverage has left the impression that we’ve been hiding something," Kent said.
In its report, CBC said Scouts Canada has engaged auditing company KPMG to investigate about 350 files of sex abuse cases dating back to the 1940s. It said a recent CBC investigation found 24 lawsuits filed against Scouts Canada since 1995.
The CBC report also alleged the organization kept a “confidential list” of pedophiles.
"Nothing could be further from the truth,” Kent told The Telegram. “And we’re hoping that by taking the steps that we’re taking ..., the public will see that we want to do what’s right and we want to ensure ... that our practices and policies and procedures continue to be leading edge when it comes to child and youth protection."
Kent said the organization has asked KPMG’s forensic group to conduct a review of all Scouts Canada leadership suspensions or terminations related to abuse, and the results of the review will be made public next year.
On Thursday, Scouts Canada posted a six-minute video on YouTube, in which Kent offered an apology to all former members who may have suffered abuse, saying, "Our sincere efforts to prevent such crimes have not always succeeded."
The reaction to the video has been positive, Kent told The Telegram.
"People appreciate the fact that the organization has done the right thing by offering a sincere apology to anybody who may have been harmed. In addition to that, I think people are really pleased to see that we don’t have anything to hide," he said.
"We don’t have reports or suspicions of abuse that haven’t been shared with the appropriate authorities, and we want to do everything we can to assure the public that scouting is an incredibly safe place for kids to learn and grow and become better citizens."
CBC also reported that Scouts Canada had signed more than a dozen out-of-court confidentiality agreements with alleged victims of sexual abuse. While the network said the Scouts had declined to disclose details about the settlements, Kent said this is due to legal regulations surrounding confidentiality, generally related to the identification of victims, not necessarily imposed by the organization.
Scouts Canada welcomes any victim who wants to share their story to contact the organization to discuss it, Kent said.
"I want to assure people that we want to do whatever we can to allow victims to share their stories, if, in fact, it would be helpful to them in their healing or if they feel it would be beneficial to others," he said.
"We have to respect people’s right to privacy."
Scouts Canada’s apology can be viewed online at bit.ly/sRPmGp.
http://www.canada.com/news/Scouts+Canada+considering+legal+action/5842238/story.html
Scouts abuse victim speaks out
ReplyDeleteOntario man blasts confidentiality clauses
CBC News December 18, 2011
Scouts Canada's recent decision not to enforce confidentiality clauses signed with sex-assault victims could spark a conversation and help relieve some of the "shame and secrecy" many victims have been living with for years, says an Ontario man who says he was abused by a scout leader.
But Terry Gillespie, who is making his identity public for the first time, says victims of sexual assault shouldn't have to deal with the limits of a confidentiality agreement if they want to speak about their experience.
Gillespie grew up in Guelph, Ont., where he was a member of a local scout troop. He said he was repeatedly assaulted by his scout leader over the course of a year, beginning when he was 14.
Decades later, when he was in his 40s, Gillespie confronted the organization about what had happened. He was offered money, conditional on his silence.
"In a sense, you are revictimized," Gillespie, now 59, told CBC News. "You become the isolated person who has to not tell anybody what the most important thing in your life is."
The confidentiality agreement didn't prevent Gillespie from going to authorities or telling his family, but he couldn't talk publicly about what happened. The existence of the deal and the facts of what happened to him were to be kept confidential.
Gillespie had previously appeared on CBC's The National, but his figure was blacked out to conceal his identity.
However, he agreed to speak out and reveal his identity after Scouts Canada's chief commissioner, Steve Kent, said last week the organization was willing to lift the confidentiality clauses contained in some of the out-of-court settlements reached with victims of abuse.
'Freedom to speak as I wish'
Gillespie said he never thought he would see the day he would be allowed to speak freely: "It means freedom to speak as I wish — should I choose to speak — or not speak."
Kent said in an interview Scouts Canada wants to do "to the best extent possible what we can to allow victims to tell their stories."
"There has been a victim who has told their story on one of your newscasts," Kent said. "We have not taken any action — we don’t intend to take any action."
While Scouts Canada has committed to helping people who signed agreements get released from them, hurdles remain. For instance, Scouts Canada can't single-handedly lift the clause if there are third parties involved in the agreement.
Scouts Canada told CBC News the organization has signed out-of-court settlements in more than two dozen cases, though not all of the cases involved confidentiality clauses.
"I think the most important thing is, it's not just me, it's everyone," Gillespie said of the decision to allow victims to tell their stories.
"That means there can be a conversation about this and about what it addresses, and that the secret part of the isolation — shame and secrecy — is not a factor anymore."
Scouts Canada offered a sweeping apology Dec. 8 to former scouts who were sexually abused by leaders.
The organization also said an expert panel would be brought in to examine its child-protection policies, and consulting firm KPMG has been brought in to comb through decades of records of suspected or alleged sex abuses.
Gillespie said he would like to mount a campaign urging politicians to make it illegal to ask for a confidentiality clause in sexual-assault cases if the victim doesn't want it.
He hasn't yet formed a firm plan of action, but he hopes to see change in how confidentiality agreements are used.
"At a very basic level, children who have been abused should never have to face a piece of paper like that."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/12/18/abused-scout-speaks-out.html
Convicted leader continued with Scouts movement
ReplyDeleteWARNING: Some language in this story may be considered offensive
CBC News February 6, 2012
A man who was twice-convicted of sex offences against children was welcomed as a member of a Scouts alumni association for decades, even after officials became aware of at least one of his convictions, a CBC News investigation has found.
Even though the organization says there was no contact with youth, Scouts Canada, in a recent interview with the CBC, now admits it was a mistake.
But a Lillooet, B.C., family that suffered damage caused by the abuse, says the acknowledgement gives them little solace.
"I ended up doing nine prison sentences, and having drinking and drug and all those other problems," Christopher Jones told CBC News.
Decades ago, in 1976, his Grade 4 teacher and Scout leader, Michael David Henley, began molesting him. Today, the 44-year-old can't say much about his abuser that isn't loaded with profanity.
"He's a piece of shit, and ah, that's all I'm going to say, you guys don't have to play that, but … I would," says Jones.
It took Jones, who was known as Christopher Aaron as a child, 10 years to tell anyone what Henley did to him.
His mother, Gayle Moore, says the revelation came when she questioned her son on the phone while he was in rehab.
"Were you molested as a child?" she asked her son.
"I said, 'I've been through every relative, every friend, every person I can think of and he said to me – Mom that was all taken care of – you can thank Mike Henley for that.' And it was just like rockets went off in my head," Moore recalls.
Henley eventually pleaded guilty to indecent assault and received a year's probation. In 1994, Moore wrote to Scouts officials to be certain they were aware of what happened.
Moore says the letter she got back made her sick. Henley was still involved in Scouting as part of an adult alumni group for leaders called the Baden Powell Guild. The provincial commissioner wrote that Henley had no direct contact with youth, was undergoing counselling, and appeared determined to stay clear of situations that could result in a recurrence of his crime.
After Henley was convicted of sex assaults against six boys in 1999, he stepped down from his position as editor of the Baden Powell Guild's newsletter, but returned as editor until 2005.
Henley dismisses concern
Now 60 and living in Burnaby, B.C., Henley claims he is no longer a member of the guild. He dismisses any concern.
"That's an adult organization that has nothing to do with kids — it was all historical, the lawsuit was historical, it was all historical," he said.
Steve Kent, chief commissioner for Scouts Canada, said Henley should not have been there at all.
"Even though he did not have any contact with young people, that still doesn't excuse the fact that he's somebody obviously who is not permitted to be a member of Scouts Canada and therefore should not be permitted to be a member of the fellowship organization, even though it is an independent organization."
That's something Gayle Moore has believed for years, while she lamented her son's spiral of self-destruction.
"He was smart, funny, gorgeous, full of life — an active little boy," she said.
"I don't understand it. It's absolutely appalling, and I don't understand it, and I'm outraged. I am outraged," says Moore.
If you have any information on this story or other investigations, please contact investigations@cbc.ca.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/01/13/scouts-canada-victim-outrage.html
Scouts Canada admits not all past sexual abuse reported to police
ReplyDeleteCBC News February 16, 2012
Scouts Canada's chief commissioner, Steve Kent, says he now accepts that his organization did not report all allegations of sexual abuse to police in past decades, contrary to previous denials.
The admission came in an interview with CBC’s The Fifth Estate as part of its ongoing investigation into how Scouts Canada dealt with past cases of sexual abuse.
Kent was responding to revelations from CBC News that it appeared several cases were not handed over to the police.
Three months ago, Kent posted a YouTube video insisting the organization had always gone to police. “Any information that Scouts Canada obtains related to abuse allegations is communicated to police," he said. "To our knowledge there has not been deviation from this policy by Scouts Canada.”
Now Kent says he was wrong.
Lost Boys
The CBC's The Fifth Estate casts fresh doubt on Scouts Canada's claims about how it has dealt with those accused of preying on young boy scouts, and unearths cases not previously reported to police.
The Lost Boys airs at 9 pm on CBC-TV and will be rebroadcast on CBC News Network.
“My understanding has changed. There are indeed cases … where information was not brought to the authorities fast enough, and that is deeply troubling… I’ve actually instructed our staff to get in touch with the OPP [Ontario Provincial Police] to provide the information we do have.”
In fact, a former chief executive officer of Scouts Canada, John Pettifer, told the program in brief telephone interview that it was not the expectation that Scouts go to the police.
Pettifer, who is no longer with Scouts Canada, says things were different in 1977 when he was asked about an abuse case in that year.
“In those days … probably just told [leader] to check it through locally and take whatever actions they felt necessary at the local level.”
CBC first reported in October 2011 that Scouts Canada signed out-of-court confidentiality agreements with more than a dozen child sex-abuse victims in recent years.
Scouts Canada has obligation
In December 2011, Scouts Canada issued a blanket apology to former Scouts who were sexually abused by leaders.
It also said at the time that Scouts Canada had 350 confidential files that they handed over, not to police, but to an accounting firm, KPMG, to do a forensic review.
Kent told the CBC that he feels very strongly that Scouts Canada has an obligation to do what “we can today to make things right to whatever extent we can.”
He has started to hand over old records to police despite the forensic review of cases that is ongoing.
“There are horrible examples from the past. We’ve turned whatever records we have over to KPMG; we’ve turned some of those records where we couldn’t confirm police have been involved, we’ve already turned those records over to the police.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/02/16/scouts-policy-police.html
Scout leaders quietly removed, documents reveal
ReplyDeleteCBC News February 17, 2012
The CBC’s The Fifth Estate has uncovered details in two past sexual abuse cases handled by Scouts Canada that were never reported to police.
Recently uncovered documents show that in 1978 scouting leaders in Brockville, Ont., suspected there “may be several undesirables who have been involved in Scouting and removed discreetly without their files being flagged.”
CBC News learned the details of one of the new cases after a victim, Bill Van Asperen, asked Scouts Canada to break the confidentiality agreement in his civil suit against the Scouts in 2001.
Van Asperen’s documents led the CBC to Greg Giles, whose tale of abuse was mistakenly included in Bill Van Asperen’s file.
On the basis of these cases and several others documented by the CBC, the chief commissioner of Scouts Canada, Steve Kent, said on Thursday that despite previous denials, his organization now accepts that Scouts Canada did not report all allegations of abuse to the police in past decades.
Ontario Provincial Police told CBC News on Friday that new allegations of past sexual abuse by Scout leaders are being investigated.
The OPP won't comment on the status of the investigation or how many complainants may be involved.
A lawyer in London, Ont., Rob Talach, says he expects a lot more cases to be uncovered.
“There will be a number where the documentation that was created didn’t make it to the top. So we have to look at this as the tip of the iceberg on the overall problem.”
CBC first reported in October 2011 that Scouts Canada signed out-of-court confidentiality agreements with more than a dozen child sex-abuse victims in recent years. Former Scouts said they felt muzzled and unable to get past the abuse since they could not talk about it.
Former Scout Van Asperen, 47, says he can no longer live “in the grey zone anymore.”
Van Asperen says he was especially upset when he watched Steve Kent say in December says that as far as the organization knew all allegations of sexual abuse were communicated to police.
Van Asperen says that while he was initially pleased with the apology, at this point he was disgusted. “Yeah, well we know that’s not true. It’s just not true.”
When he was finally able to speak after receiving permission from the Scouts, Van Asperen revealed that he was abused by an assistant Scout leader named John Brown, who, in 1978, invited some boys from the 8th troop over to watch a movie at his home in Brockville, Ont.
Without warning Brown showed the boys a pornographic film and then suggested the boys could masturbate, and he exposed himself.
“…And the hardest part as an adult looking back is as you know right now, there’s a lot of shame that goes with this type of coercion, and we don’t know it’s because we’re 13 years old and we’re being told by a guy who’s in his late 30s, if not his early 40s, that it’s OK, it’s normal,” says Van Asperen.
Brown was named a dangerous offender in 1997 and died in prison in 2010.
When Van Asperen, a cameraman with the CBC on disability, reviewed his files to prepare to discuss his case with the CBC, he retrieved a letter that showed that in 1978 the Scouts in Brockville suspected they had several pedophiles in their unit.
continued in next comment...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/17/scouts-abuse-new-cases.html
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ReplyDeleteThe letter says Brown and several other men from that area were “discreetly removed” by local Scouting officials.
The letter further stated the men are “known child molesters” and pointed out that their names had not been added to the confidential files.
Another boy in a Smiths Falls unit at the time was Greg Giles.
“In my case, if they would’ve went to the police appropriately, all this wouldn’t have happened. So, obviously no, they didn’t respond appropriately, they were covering their own ass.”
When Giles went to Prince Edward Island to a Scouting jamboree in 1977, another leader who had offered to go with the troop, Scouter John, came up to Giles, who was 14 at the time, and “asked me if he could have sex with me, oral sex and I said no.”
Giles told another leader what happened and instead of going to police, Scouter John convinced them Giles was making it all up to get out of paying back some pocket money he owed.
Giles was told to help Scouter John do yard work at his home. The abuse continued to the point where Giles had to barricade himself in the Scouting leader's kitchen. He escaped and took with him a note that Scouter John had given him asking for sexual favours.
The Scouts then conducted their own handwriting analysis of the note and concluded weeks later that Giles had been seduced.
“I guess it sounded better than molested back then but he seduced eight boys. They blackballed him from the organization, Scouts Canada.”
Giles was not happy with the outcome.
“I was thinking I’ve done the right thing. I’ve put a stop to this, only to hear that he was blackballed and everything was just brushed under the table.”
It is believed that Scouter John died 10 or 15 years ago.
Giles has decided to sue Scouts Canada for not believing him and not reporting Scouter John to the police.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/17/scouts-abuse-new-cases.html
Boy Scouts sued in sexual abuse case
ReplyDeleteBy Kim Christensen, Los Angeles Times February 19, 2012
The mother of a Santa Barbara County teenager says he was wronged twice — once by the 450-pound Boy Scout leader who sexually abused him in 2007, and then by a local Scouts executive who she says told her not to call police.
"He said that wasn't necessary, because the Scouts do their own internal investigation," said the woman, whose name The Times is withholding to protect her son's identity. "I thought that was really weird.... I thought it was really important to call the sheriff right away."
So she did, triggering an investigation of volunteer Scout leader Al Steven Stein, then 29, who was charged with abusing her 92-pound son and two other boys. In 2009, he pleaded no contest to felony child endangerment. He was put on probation but later went to prison after authorities found pictures of nude children on his cellphone data card.
Stein's criminal case is closed. But its fallout is far from over for the boy, who is now 17 and, according to his mother, so traumatized by the ordeal that he seldom leaves the house.
Nor is it over for the Boy Scouts of America, which is being sued by the boy's family for negligence in a case whose ramifications could reach well beyond Santa Barbara.
The lawsuit contends the Scouts knew or should have known that Stein had put the boy at risk and cites the executive's reluctance to call police as evidence of an effort to conceal widespread sexual abuse.
In addition to unspecified damages, the lawsuit seeks to force the Scouts to hand over thousands of confidential files detailing allegations of sexual abuse by Scout leaders and others around the nation. It contends the files will expose the Scouts' "culture of hidden sexual abuse" and its failure to warn boys, their parents and others about the "pedophilic wolves" who have long infiltrated one of America's oldest youth organizations.
In January, after reviewing some of the files, a Santa Barbara Superior Court judge rejected the Scouts' argument that the documents are irrelevant to the lawsuit and ordered the organization to turn over the most recent 20 years' worth of records to the boy's lawyers by Feb. 24, with victims' names removed. The judge ordered the lawyers not to disclose the files publicly.
Known as "ineligible volunteer files," the documents have been maintained since the 1920s and are intended to keep suspected molesters and others accused of misconduct out of Scouting. Scouts officials have steadfastly resisted releasing them and won't discuss their contents, citing the privacy rights of victims and the fact that many files are based on unproven allegations.
They strenuously dispute that the files have been used to conceal sexual abuse.
"These files exist solely to keep out individuals whose actions are inconsistent with the standards of Scouting, and Scouts are safer because of them," said Deron Smith, public relations director of Boy Scouts of America.
Some of the estimated 5,000 files have surfaced in recent years as a result of lawsuits by former Scouts accusing the organization of failing to exclude known pedophiles, detect abuses and report offenders to police, allowing predators to remain at large.
"They have created these ticking time bombs who are walking through society and nobody knows their identities except the Scouts," said Timothy Hale, one of the lawyers for the Santa Barbara County boy.
The Oregon Supreme Court is considering a petition by media organizations in one case to release files for a 20-year period ending in 1985.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-scouts-20120219,0,5265678.story
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ReplyDeleteThe Santa Barbara case is significant because it seeks to unlock files that have never been turned over by the Scouts, including all since 2005. It is also noteworthy because it alleges wrongdoing that took place relatively recently, even as the Scouts have stepped up protective efforts.
According to the lawsuit, Stein had a history of inappropriate behavior with children he'd met through Scouting, including "making sexual jokes and comments" in front of Scouts and in some cases pulling down their pants. In November 2007, he abused the Santa Barbara County boy, who was 13 at the time.
"Stein used his 450 pounds to pin the boy with sufficient force to cause bruising, ripped the boy's pants down to the point the boy suffered a laceration at his belt line, and then fondled the boy's genitals while commenting on them," the lawsuit states.
When the boy told his mother about the abuse a few days later, she said, she called the Scouts' offices to report it and spoke with David Tate, then the Los Padres Council scout executive. She said Tate initially tried to talk her out of calling the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department and relented only when she insisted.
Tate, now a top Scouts official in New York, declined to comment. Messages left for his lawyer and the Scouts' attorney in the lawsuit were fielded by Smith, who issued a prepared statement detailing the Scouts' efforts to curb sexual abuse.
In the last decade, the organization has among other things expanded its sexual abuse prevention training and reporting. In 2010, the Scouts set a national policy requiring any suspicion of abuse to be immediately reported to law enforcement, Smith said.
Before that, volunteers and professionals followed state laws on reporting abuse, Smith said. The California penal code lists youth organization administrators and employees as mandated reporters.
In early 2008, Stein was charged with a felony, committing a lewd act upon a child, and two misdemeanors including child pornography for photographs he took of a boy's genitals. Two of the victims were Scouts; the third was the son of a family friend.
Stein struck a deal to plead no contest to felony child endangerment and one misdemeanor. He was placed on five years' probation but violated it by having the photos of nude children on his cellphone card. He was sentenced to two years in prison but was paroled early and has been in no trouble since, said Steven Balash, his attorney in the criminal case and the lawsuit.
Balash said Stein is "a sad case," living on Social Security disability payments in a Salinas motel with other sex offenders. He said that Stein is not a threat to anyone and that his crimes were relatively minor.
"Al is probably at the way far end of having done anything serious," Balash said, questioning the merits of the civil suit. "I don't know where the damages are."
But the boy's mother said her son has been deeply affected, in part because other families from the troop accused him of lying or "hallucinating" about the abuse. He refuses to go out in public and is now tutored at home, she said.
"He's not the person he was before," she said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-scouts-20120219,0,5265678.story
Former Scout Leader Faces Child Sex Abuse Charges
ReplyDeleteBy HILDA MUÑOZ, The Hartford Courant March 15, 2012
NEW BRITAIN — A 33-year-old man arrested in January and accused of sexually abusing two underage boys over several years was an assistant Boy Scout leader who took advantage of the victims while checking for ticks during camping trips, according to a warrant for his arrest.
Mark Alexander, 33, who co-owns a security company, allegedly sexually abused the boys multiple times between 2004 and 2008, when they were between the ages of 10 and 16, police said.
Alexander appeared Thursday in Superior Court in a separate case in which he is accused of possessing child pornography.
Although the cases are separate, it appears they are related.
Alexander was arrested in January by New Britain police in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of the two boys. Digital evidence was seized from Alexander's home in Rocky Hill and analyzed, and child pornography, some of which included pictures of the victims in the New Britain case, was found, according to prosecutor Brett Salafia and court records.
As a result, Alexander was arrested again by Rocky Hill police in February and charged with one count of possession of child pornography. On Thursday, he entered a not guilty plea to that count.
"When the Rocky Hill case came in, it made the original case stronger," Salafia said in court on Thursday.
Police said no one else has come forward.
Steven Smith, an executive with the Boy Scouts of America — Connecticut Rivers Council, said Alexander has not been very active in the organization in the past four to five years.
He said he found out about Alexander's arrest from newspaper articles.
"Our first concern is the kids. We cooperated with the police we notified the police as soon as we found out he was arrested," Smith said.
Alexander's membership was also revoked, he said.
Alexander is under house arrest as a condition of his bond. His attorney, John Maxwell, argued in court Thursday to modify that so he can go to work at Elite Security Forces in Wethersfield, where he is a principal. Maxwell said Alexander would be responsible for office work and phone calls and would not participate in security work.
Judge Hillary Strackbein denied that request, saying there is a risk Alexander would flee.
"Why can't he do sales calls at home?" she asked.
Police opened an investigation into the alleged abuse of the two boys in November 2011 after the boys and their families reported it.
Alexander is scheduled to return to court May 2.
http://articles.courant.com/2012-03-15/news/hc-new-britain-boy-scout-sex-assault-0316-20120315_1_rocky-hill-police-house-arrest-separate-case
Scouts File Appeal in Sex Abuse Case
ReplyDeleteYouth Group Seeks to Block Order to Turn Over ‘Perversion Files’
by BARNEY BRANTINGHAM Santa Barbara Independent April 26, 2012
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has asked a California appeal court to overrule a Santa Barbara judge who ordered the youth group to turn over files dating back to 1991 regarding suspected sexual activity.
The case involves a Santa Barbara family suing the Scouts because a volunteer molested their 13-year-old son at a 2007 Christmas tree sale. The volunteer pleaded no contest to charges and later served a prison term.
In its request to the Second District Court of Appeal in Ventura for an immediate stay, the BSA said the so-called “perversion files” are irrelevant to the case and that Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Donna Geck was wrong when she ordered the scout organization to turn over the thousands of pages of files by May 9.
Tim Hale, attorney for the family, is seeking punitive damages against the BSA and says the secret files show a long history of keeping cases of molestation shielded from parents who have a right to know about possible dangers to their sons. Release of the files has “national implications,” Hale said. Hale already has nearly 2,000 such files, 1971-91, from another case.
“Once again BSA is misleading a court in order to preserve its policy of secrecy regarding sexual abuse within the organization,” Hale said today. “The most glaring example of this is BSA’s stock PR statement that ‘youth protection is of paramount importance to scouting.’ If this statement were true, BSA would take immediate action to correct the dangerous situation it has created for today’s children …
“The BSA should immediately report to law enforcement every BSA volunteer or employee accused of abuse who BSA has previously either failed to report or prevented from being reported to law enforcement.
“BSA also should notify the public of its actions, and issue a press release identifying the name of the person they reported, the dates and locations of the suspected abuse, and the contact information for the law enforcement agency where each perp has been reported. This will arm parents, volunteers, and the public with information they use to protect their children from sexual abuse.”
http://www.independent.com/news/2012/apr/26/scouts-file-appeal-sex-abuse-case/?on
Former priest, boy scout leader faces more sex charge
ReplyDeleteCBC News May 8, 2012
The Ontario Provincial Police in northwestern Ontario have laid more charges against a former Anglican priest and boy scout leader for alleged sexual offences.
Ralph Rowe, 72, will appear in court in Kenora, Ont., later this month. He's charged with five counts of sexual assault and two counts of indecent assault.
The charges relate to incidents that occurred between 1973 and 1986 in the First Nations communities of Fort Severn, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, Wunnumin Lake and Kingfisher Lake.
Rowe has already been convicted of more than 50 counts of sex-related crimes that occurred in the 1970s and 80s, when he travelled to various First Nations in Manitoba and northern Ontario to conduct church services and organize youth events – including scout outings.
Rowe was convicted in 1988 of 10 counts of sexual abuse relating to his time in Split Lake. In 1994, Rowe pleaded guilty to 29 sex-related crimes involving 16 victims and received a six-year sentence. He served four-and-a half years.
In 2007 and 2009, he was found guilty of similar charges.
He currently lives in Surrey, B.C. RCMP served a summons for him to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Kenora on May 31.
There have also been civil cases related to Rowe. In October 2011, CBC learned that at least two lawsuits against Scouts Canada related to Rowe were settled out of court.
The two Rowe lawsuits were among more than a dozen civil cases against Scouts Canada where out-of court settlements involved confidentiality clauses.
In the Rowe case, the clause didn't bar victims from speaking out about the abuse they suffered, but it did not allow them to discuss the amount of compensation they received in the settlement.
In December 2011, Scouts Canada chief commissioner Steve Kent said the organization was willing to lift the confidentiality clauses found in some of the out-of-court settlements.
Kent, who has not yet reviewed the new charges, said Rowe "abused his community status to gain entry into and then betray the values of Scouts Canada."
Kent said Rowe was suspended and terminated from Scouts Canada after charges were first laid against him in the late 1980s.
"Scouts Canada participated fully in the police investigations into Rowe’s activities and provided all records relating to his Scouting activities, and we will of course support the investigation at this time in any way we can," Kent said in an email Tuesday.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/05/08/tby-more-priest-charges.html