Coming Monday: Secret Boy Scout File Sheds Light on Local Sex Abuse Case

Four Redmond cases were included in the thousands of so-called perversion files that became public earlier this month as part of an $18.5 million settlement between the Boy Scouts and a victim.

One of the files, about a 51-year-old sex abuse case against the brother of a Redmond scoutmaster, is available to online viewers. In 33 pages, it details how local and national Boy Scout officials responded when a group of Redmond scouts returned early from a camping trip and accused Neil Stensland of sexual abuse.

Unlike some of the other child abuse cases tied to the Boy Scouts, the allegations against Stensland were reported to police and went through the legal system. Along the way, however, Boy Scout officials exchanged a series of letters that reveal much about how the organization has dealt with sexual abuse over the past several decades.

We'll present the story in two parts Monday and Tuesday.