SACRAMENTO, CA - Boy Scouts of America Thursday released its so-called "perversion files" of Scout leaders accused of sexually abusing youths.
The public release of the names follows an Oregon attorney's court fight to have the records released.
According to an Associated Press story, the documents date from 1959 to 1985 and this is the first time the earliest documents - those from 1959 to 1971 - have been made public.
There are some 14,500 pages. The names of 135 California men affiliated with the Scouts are in the documents. An individual's name in the documents is only a record of inappropriate sexual allegations reported to the Scouts, not necessarily substantiated.
The documents include a warning to Sacramento's Golden Empire Council, "you have three scout leaders who are accused of being members of the Man Boy Love Association."
One of those former scout leaders, John Norman Olson, remains on the California Sex Offender Registry.
His so-called perversion file includes newspaper articles that chronicle court cases involving a child molestation ring. The documents make repeated references to a confidential file where scout leaders placed the names of alleged abusers.
In another case a decade earlier, the Golden Empire Council warns Boy Scout leaders in New Jersey about an Espiscopalian priest "recently convicted of certain acts of sexual perversion." He had been serving as a local Troop Committee Chairman.
James R. Martin, CEO of the Boy Scouts Golden Empire Council made the following statement in response to the release of the documents:
Nothing is more important than the safety of our Scouts.
The BSA has been training on Youth Protection for decades and today has the most comprehensive program on this issue for youth and adults among all youth-serving organizations. Our education and training programs are specifically designed to create an environment of awareness and to teach Scouts and adults to recognize and prevent abuse. Every parent is informed of the BSA's Youth Protection policies at the time of application and must review Youth Protection materials with their child as a requirement of membership. Scouts are taught to recognize, resist, and report abuse-in and out of Scouting-through a series of videos and other written materials. This training is a requirement for rank advancement. All adult leaders must complete Youth Protection training every two years in order to maintain their membership.
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