Kentucky Boy Scout leaders failed to report allegations of sexual abuse to police, reports sho

KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

[national database – Attorney Kelly Clark]

[with video]

Written by
Andrew Wolfson
The Courier-Journal

When a 47-year-old Louisville Boy Scout leader attempted in 1967 to molest a boy in a tent during an outing, scouting officials promised that they would keep the matter strictly confidential and say only that the leader resigned.

“The Scout office will make no general announcement,” Scouting Executive Hal Cory wrote on Nov. 6, 1967, to Boy Scouts of America headquarters, which promised to put the report in its “confidential file.” ..

Cal Pfeiffer, a founding member of the local chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the disclosures show how pervasive sexual abuse of children is in society “in one group after another after another.”

He said the Boy Scouts at least forced accused leaders to resign rather than moving them from parish to parish, as the church often did. But like the church, the Scouts didn’t refer leaders for prosecution, he said, potentially allowing them to continue to prey on children in other capacities.

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