Former Medford Scoutmaster Among those in Boy Scout 'Perversion Files'

A Medford scoutmaster in the 1960s was banned from involvement with the Boy Scouts after multiple members of his troop alleged he had inappropriate contact with them, according to previously non-public Boy Scouts of America files.

The files were released Thursday by order of the Oregon Supreme Court. They were used as evidence in a 2010 lawsuit against the Scouts in a molestation case that resulted in a jury awarding $20 million to a man molested by an assistant scoutmaster in the 1980s.

The files include the names of more than 1,200 people from across the country, including 45 from Massachusetts, whom the Boy Scouts suspected might be child abusers. Although the files detail allegations, they are not an indication that the claims are true, or that charges were ever brought forward.

The Medford man named in one of the files served as a scoutmaster in two different Medford troops between 1959 and 1967, first for troop 402 from 1959 to 1963, then troop 401 from 1965 to 1967. He was accused of being involved in "immoral acts" with at least six boys between 1965 and 1967, according to the file. The man resigned from his position when the Troop Committee confronted him with the accusations, according to the file.