Former Downers Grove Scoutmaster Named in Boy Scouts' Perversion Files

A former scoutmaster from Downers Grove was expelled from the organization in 1967 after molesting and hitting a boy during a camping trip, according to the "perversion files" just released by the Boy Scouts of America.

The man, then 36, was removed from his position in Downers Grove Troop 99, and was barred from any further participation in the Scouting program, according to documents released Thursday.

READ: Inside the 'Perversion Files' of the Illinois Boy Scouts

Confidential memos and letters between the Boy Scouts West Suburban Council 147 and the National Council in New Jersey detail the incident that led to the man's expulsion—a June 1967 camping trip in Yorkville with five boys from his troop.

During the trip, the man separated one of the scouts from the group, and made the boy remove all his clothing and run through vegetation as part of a so-called "initiation," the memo stated. The scoutmaster then molested the boy, and told him not to tell anyone, the files said.

When the scout threatened to tell his parents, the man hit him and said "he would get additional such treatment if he did any talking about what had occurred to him," documents said.

Troop 99 leaders learned of the incident in September 1967, prompting an investigation and a meeting with the scoutmaster, documents said. During the meeting, the scoutmaster admitted the abuse and said he had been drinking and taking drugs at the time, the memo said.

The man also told scout leaders he was having marital difficulties, and received psychiatric help—six or seven treatments—shortly after the trip, according to documents.

The man was barred from the Boy Scouts program a week later, documents show. He told leaders he was considering a move away from the community because of a "change in job circumstances," the memo said.

Paul Darrah, spokesman for the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office, said he could find no record of any charges against the scoutmaster.

The man, now 81, is no longer living at the Downers Grove address listed in the file.

Almost 300 cases involving men and Boy Scout troops throughout Illinois are among the 1,200 secret Boy Scout files released last week by order of the Oregon Supreme Court.

Information in the files was used against the Boy Scouts in a 2010 lawsuit alleging six Scouts were molested by a Scout Master in the 1980s. The Oregon firm representing the six Scouts in the lawsuit fought for the release of the secret “perversion files” and ultimately won a $20 million judgment. The records were submitted to the court under seal as evidence in the lawsuit, but Oregon’s high court ordered the files to be opened to the public.

PATCH DATABASE: Search for your town and troop in the Illinois "perversion files"

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