58 Rhode Island Boy Scout Leaders Accused Of Sex Abuse

Fifty-eight Rhode Island Boy Scout leaders have been accused of abusing children since the 1940s in the "Perversion Files," lawyers announced Tuesday. They were some of more than 7,800 scout volunteers that the Boys Scouts of America suspected as child molesters. There were "thousands" of victims, lawyers said.

The nearest council to us is the Narragansett Council. Boy Scout councils, which are headed by three people, are divided into districts that operate individual scouting units. There are more than 100,000 scouting units nationwide, the organization wrote on its website.

Many volunteers were publicly identified by lawyers across the country Tuesday. Patch is not naming the individuals as many were not charged. The Times noted that an unknown number of files were purged by the organization before the 1990s and an un­known num­ber of ad­di­tion­al cases were created after 2005.

More than 100 former Boy Scout leaders who appeared in the so-called “Perversion Files” were being singled out Tuesday. The law firms of Greg Gianforcaro and Jeff Anderson & Associates named leaders in New York and New Jersey at a live-streamed press conference where sex abuse survivors were to share their stories.

More than 7,800 Boy Scouts of America leaders nationwide were accused by the lawyers of child sex abuse. Many of the former Scout leaders appeared in a sweeping Los Angeles Times database dating to October 2012 that tracked thousands of men and women who were kicked out of the organization between 1947 and January 2005 due to suspected sex abuse.

Jeff Anderson said he planned to file multiple lawsuits against the Boy Scouts on behalf of many victims.

"When we got this information, we had to sound this alarm," he said.

The Boy Scouts of America released this statement, "We care deeply about all victims of child sex abuse and sincerely apologize to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting."

"We believe victims, we support them, and we have paid for unlimited counseling by a provider of their choice," the BSA continued. "Nothing is more important than the safety and protection of children in Scouting, and we are outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to abuse innocent children.”

The BSA added that it never knowingly allowed people accused of abuse to work with kids. All leaders, volunteers and staff members are required to immediately report abuse allegations to law enforcement.

The thousands of accused leaders were detailed in the organization's "Perversion Files," released under court order in 2012. The cases in the “Perversion Files” database originated from secret Scouting files submitted in court cases, The Times wrote. Specifically, the cases originated from a 1992 Cali­for­nia law­suit, a release order by the Ore­gon Su­preme Court and sum­mary data on addition­al files.

The “Perversion Files” documented horrific sex abuse allegations. In some states, Scouts were stripped naked and rubbed with ice cubes. Others were forced to have oral sex with their troop leaders and molested on camping trips, according to the report.

Patch staffers Noah Manskar, Tom Davis and Dan Hampton contributed reporting.