Friday, October 19, 2012

Boy Scout List of Offenders Released


Forty-six individuals and at least 38 communities in Maine are listed in a Los Angeles Times database recording incidents of suspected or proven child abuse or molestation involving Boy Scouts of America members.
The database was augmented Thursday by the court-ordered release of BSA files used to keep records of people blacklisted by the organization for suspected or proven child abuse and sexual offenses.
Those files cover 1,247 cases of suspected child molestation or abuse nationwide from 1965 through 1985. The newspaper added those to previously amassed files from 1947 to 2005 to form a database of more than 5,000 cases.
Marshall Steinmann, executive director of Maine’s Katahdin Area Council — the Boy Scouts of America’s local chapter — referred all media inquiries to the national council.
“We as a local council are chartered by the national organization and we have to abide by what they say,” said Steinmann.
A statement released by the Boy Scouts of America through Steinmann said the files are “a key method used to keep Scouts safe. Essentially, the files are a list of people who do not meet the BSA’s membership standards because of known or suspected abuse or other inappropriate conduct either inside or outside of Scouting.”
Steinmann added only that it is his understanding that the ineligible-volunteer files were a “pre-emptive or proactive” program by the Boy Scouts of America.
The Los Angeles Times database contains information on 5,000 men and a few women who were expelled from the BSA between 1947 and January 2005 for suspicion of sexual abuse.
A nationwide map points to the towns and cities in Maine referred to in the files. In all, files on 46 individuals are listed as being connected to at least 38 locations in the state. Only three of the individuals are named. The rest are referred to by unique numbers.
The following towns and cities are listed: Van Buren, East Blackstone, Woodland, Caribou, Mars Hill, Patten, Medway, Guilford, Lincoln, Lincoln Center, Greenville, Shirley Mills, Orono, Bangor, Brewer, Bucksport, Ellsworth, Wellington, North Anson, Farmington, Phillips, Wilton, Rumford, Livermore Falls, Winthrop, Hallowell, Lewiston, Brunswick, Lovell, Bridgton, Casco, North Windham, Gorham, Westbrook, South Portland, Saco, Kennebunk and Biddeford. Another location listed as “Airam” on the database map does not exist in Maine.
The files detail banned individuals affecting members of 52 different Scouting units in Maine.
Three of the 46 files — originating from Casco, Hallowell and Westbrook — included documentation online.
Those cases involved men who were denied registration and permanently banned from the BSA: William Boyd Brown of Westbrook in 1977, Alfred J. Conrad of Augusta in 1984 and Fred A. Cram of Casco in 1984.
Brown was listed as a 34-year-old married man working as a reserve policeman and a counselor for the University of Maine in Portland. Documents show disagreement over whether to register him as a Scoutmaster on probationary status despite the fact he was convicted of fondling a 14-year-old girl in 1977 by a Cumberland County jury. He received a 90-day suspended sentence and one year of probation.
Cram, 32, was convicted of unlawful sexual contact in Cumberland County Superior Court in December 1983 for an incident in which “he picked up some youngsters to go to camp, but ended up in a motel with them,” according to official BSA executive correspondence. He was given a two-year prison sentence with all but 120 days suspended.
Conrad was given a five-year prison sentence for a morals and sodomy charge in 1982, according to the BSA documents. He had not been officially registered with the Pine Tree Council since 1979.
None of the three men currently appears in the state of Maine’s sex offender registry.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG, If there are that many child sexual abusers in the Boy Scouts in just those counties in Maine, imagine how many there are nationwide! It's GOT to be rampant.

Years ago when I was divorced and raising my oldest son by myself, I allowed my seven year old son (a very little boy) to go off on a long week-end camping trip with the boy scouts. I never forgot how I took him to the boy scouts parking lot that Saturday morning to meet up with the scout leaders and the buses they were taking, and meeting the scout leader who was to be his supervisor.

I couldn't put my finger on it but there was something about that man that I instantly disliked, the look in his eyes I did not like. I thought at the time that maybe it was because he was trying so hard to flirt with me and him wearing a wedding band, but that was not so unusual, and still it haunted me over the years, so much so that I have always regretted that I let my little boy go off on that trip.

My son told me later that he ran out of change to buy a candy bar and drink on the way back and the scout leader had paid it for him. I did not have a good feeling about that and wished I had never let him go. To this day it still bothers me.

My second son went to boy scout meetings that were conducted by housewives. His dad and I took him out before any overnight trips were taken. He was never allowed to take any ovenight camping trips other than one which was run by a large church camp group we were associated with, where wives were also in attendance and participating in the activities.

I just never had a good feeling again about overnight boy scout camping trips.

Anonymous said...

Off topic and I apologize for that. A private investigator has agreed to take on the Hailey Dunn investigation pro-bono. Here is the article from Newswest 9 in Midland, Tx.

"COLORADO CITY - The search for the story behind Hailey Dunn's disappearance is making some progress.

A private investigator has now agreed to take on her case for free.

"Hope for Hailey," a group behind Hailey's search made the announcement earlier this week.

The investigator, Mac Sanford of Houston, met with Hailey's mother on Wednesday in Austin and has already started gathering information on the case."

Local anonymous in the Hailey Dunn Case

Sanford tells NewsWest 9 that he is doing this pro-bono because he never charges the parents of a missing family.

He also told NewsWest 9 that he is positive Billie Dunn is just a mother who is desperate to bring her daughter back.

Anonymous said...

OT
Clint Heichel

Authorities used red tape to mark where they found broken glass and tire marks in a heavily wooded area in Gresham, Ore., as part of their search for a Starbucks employee who disappeared on her way to work.

It's unclear whether they found any significant clues.

Investigators searched the park in Clackamas County and also Larch Mountain Wednesday in connection to the disappearance of Whitney Heichel, 21. She was last seen Tuesday when she kissed her husband goodbye and left for work at Starbucks, a five-minute drive from her home.

Gresham police have called Heichel's disappearance "suspicious" and fear they are in a race against time to find her.

"Right now we have 24 detectives working on it," Gresham Police Department spokesman Lt. Claudio Grandjean said. "We want to be able to jump on leads we have right away. The colder those leads get, the more difficult it becomes."

Of the park findings, he said, "I'm not prepared to say that's the broken glass that came from her vehicle, although it's absolutely possible."

Heichel's black Ford Explorer was found abandoned in a Walmart parking lot hours after her disappearance. The passenger side window had been shattered.

Police aren't saying what brought them to search the wooded area.

Heichel's husband, Clint, has said she kissed him goodbye and left for her job just before 7 a.m.

"She got ready, did her normal thing and I kind of woke up and said, 'Bye. I'll see you when you get home,'" Clint Heichel told ABC News' Portland affiliate, KATU-TV, Wednesday.

Heichel reported his wife was missing at 9:56 a.m. after her supervisor alerted him that she did not show up for work.

"I called her several times," he said. "I texted her several times and then actually at about 9:30ish, her phone got to the point where you would call and it went straight to voicemail."

Police say surveillance cameras recorded her vehicle pulling into a Shell gas station around 9 a.m. and her ATM card was used.

Her husband said bank records show the same card was used at another gas station minutes later, but police have not confirmed that.

"One at 9:22 and then one at about 9:30, which was kind of odd, both for gas eight minutes apart," Heichel said.

Police spokesman Grandjean said, "The video is inconclusive in terms of being able to tell who's in the vehicle but we can tell it's the vehicle and we know through bank records it's the car."

Police have not yet released the surveillance video, but they plan on doing a briefing later this morning, according to KATU.

"Not having her around is just overwhelming and it's hit met like a ton of bricks," Heichel said.

ABC News' Alyssa Newcomb contributed to this report.

Anonymous said...

I suspect - sadly - that dear Whitney is not coming home. May she rest in peace. I suspect her husband is her killer. I suspect this because:
He needs to tell us the morning was "normal" and that he told her "Bye". The two gas station visits he brings up sound like a set up on his part and a need to convince/convey the possibility she was kidnapped. After "9:30ish" there is a pronoun change to "you" now you would be calling her and getting VM. I think he killed her at 9:30ish.
The end of his statement he is only concerned about himself, not her. It is about his "overwhelming" and his "hit like a ton of bricks". Why would he be already on to being devastated if he didn't know she was gone? He should be worried about her, begging for her return.

equinox said...

OT

http://www.news9.com/story/19858704/12-year-old-girl-shoots-intruder-during-home-invasion

You go girl!

equinox said...

That's one missing child case we won't need to cover!

The intruder has a record of abducting young girls. So she not only protected herself but likely future victims as well.

Anonymous said...

OT
Peter, any comments on Dinesh D`Souza`s denials of infidelities?
Love your blog!
m

Tania Cadogan said...

off topic

PHOENIX (CBS5) - The jury has found Elizabeth Johnson guilty of conspiracy to commit custodial interference, custodial interference and unlawful imprisonment in the disappearance of her son Gabriel.

Jurors couldn't reach a verdict on the most serious charge, kidnapping.

"We are obviously thrilled with what the jury did today. It was really the primary effort of our case was to go after the kidnapping charge, that was the focus of exactly what we were doing," Elizabeth Johnson's attorney Marc Victor told CBS 5 News. "Our entire defense was based on the kidnapping charge. And the jury saw it our way."

They deliberated for about a day and a half.

Elizabeth Johnson is the Valley mother who ran off to San Antonio, TX, with her 8-month-old son Gabriel Johnson in December 2009. He has not been seen since.

Attorneys wrapped up their closing arguments on Tuesday and the jury began deliberation on Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors told jurors that Elizabeth Johnson was angry and determined to "get back" at the child's father, Logan McQueary. The couple had recently broken up and McQueary was granted joint custody.

Prosecutors said that Elizabeth Johnson wanted to give the child up for adoption, but when McQueary refused, Elizabeth Johnson took the child to Texas without McQueary's permission.

"She wants to get back at Logan, and she is upset, and she uses the one thing that would hurt Logan more than anything," prosecutor Angela Andrews said.

After the verdict was read, McQueary's father spoke with CBS 5 News.

"If you think about it from the jury's perspective, let's not anybody think bad about them. They found her guilty of everything. They just didn't find her guilty of what, to us, was the most important thing, because it gave her the most prison time."

Victor did not present any evidence during the trial or call any witnesses.

He told the jury that prosecutors failed to prove their case that Elizabeth Johnson kidnapped her son.

Victor admitted that his client was guilty of custodial interference, but said that Elizabeth Johnson had every right to leave the state with her son at the time that she did.

"This is not a case about whether or not you like Elizabeth Johnson," said Victor. "This was not a kidnapping."

Judge Joseph Kreamer on Tuesday denied a defense motion to drop the kidnapping charge against Elizabeth Johnson.

Victor said in his motion that Arizona does not have the jurisdiction to prosecute Elizabeth Johnson for kidnapping. [Read full motion (PDF)]

Victor's motion states Elizabeth Johnson legally traveled to Texas with her son and every element the state presented in the kidnapping case would have occurred in Texas, outside the jurisdiction of Arizona.

[SPECIAL SECTION: Elizabeth Johnson, Baby Gabriel.]

Elizabeth Johnson pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, custodial interference and conspiracy in the December 2009 disappearance of her son.

Elizabeth Johnson, who has been jailed without bond since January 2010, has changed her story since the ordeal began.

She initially told the boy's father that she killed her son and put his body in a dumpster, but later told authorities she gave the child away to a couple in San Antonio.

All charges she was convicted on are probation eligible, but the jury did find aggravating circumstances on Thursday so that could come into play when the judge sentences her.

Elizabeth Johnson has already spent nearly three years in jail, which could satisfy any sentence imposed.

Elizabeth Johnson's attorney tried to get the judge to change her release conditions and set her free from the courtroom.

The judge denied that, instead imposing a $1 million cash bond.

A hearing on her release conditions is set for early November.

http://www.kpho.com/story/19831302/jury-finds-elizabeth-johnson-guilty-of-custodial-interference

BostonLady said...

On topic with the boy scouts. This is such a shame. They organization has so much to offer but there is the downside (more than a downside) with it's draw of child predators.

When my daughter joined the girl scouts, I went to any overnight trip with her. Even with the girls, one cannot be too careful. With my sons, their dad accompanied them. Even with their sporting events, one of us was always in attendance. Hockey, ice skating, soccer, gymnastics, dance, etc.

What happened to adults protecting children whether they were related or not? Those days are long gone. Sad.

BostonLady said...

Wow equinox that is some story! The 12 yr old took care of the scumbag!

Anonymous said...

This does not surprise me about BSA. My experiences with them is that there is little oversight, lacking enforcement of rules, and a lot of autonomy in troops. There are rules about background checks for adult leaders, but those adults are usually around while awaiting the checks. If I had it to do again I would decline to have my son participate rather than spending my energy being a nag for the rules.

Frannie said...

'She got dressed this morning, normal everything. Kissed me goodbye, said goodbye,' Another quote by the husband of Whitney Heichel published by a number of news organizations regarding the morning she went missing. Has anyone seen a copy of the 911 call published yet?

Tania Cadogan said...

It is a sad indictment of our times that men, who volunteer their time and expertise are now questioned as to their ulterior motives as the norm.

Rather than what can you do for my child, to teach them and guide them that they become good adults and then parents themselves, it is now why do you want access to my child, what are your reasons, do you mean harm to my child.

Because of the few men the many are now untrusted.

It used to be that parents would leave their child with a woman rather than a man, the belief being that women are the fairer, kinder, gentler sex.
That they would mother and nurture the child, any child, it was maternal instinct in all its glory, to be trusted and even encouraged.

Today we see this is no longer the case, female nursety workers have commited appalling abuse against their charges either for their own pleasure or to please males in their lives.

Perhaps then childcare should be kept in the family, close friends the child knows them, the parents know them, surely that is safer than a stranger?

Sadly today a child is more at risk from a family member or friend than any stranger.

Read the news any day and we hear about unimaginable cruelty against children from their parents and family members, abuse, neglect the least sexual, emotional physical abuse escalting until a child is dead.
A rise in children abducred from their beds at night or from a vehicle?
No parents who claim abduction to hide their crimes,
Blame the gypsies they steal children and so on, medieval times in modern days.
Gypsies did it, a childless couple willing to steal.

Today it isn't like that infertility is treatable, Test tube babies commonplace, surrogacy, adoption, so many legal means, children can be bought off the shelf almost if you have the money.
Why steal and risk penalties when you can buy a baby legally.
Pick the gender, the color of their skin, their hair their eyes, not got one in stock wait a few weeks then come back.

When a child goes missing it is rarelyfor a childless couple who will love and cherish them, it is for a criminal reason, rape,murder, servitude,spite against the custodial parent.

Newborns who get taken from the ward, the crib, even from the womb are taken perhaps to love by a desperate woman who lied about pregnancy until it was impossible to tell the truth.
Luckily most are found unharmed, how long before a woman with a newborn abductee kills it to protect herself?
It may well have already happened.

Infants are rarely stolen for criminal motives such as rape, they are too young even for most paedophiles, they target toddlers and up.
Children who can get out and about, be picked up from the street or park, easy to grab and go.
There is too much risk to break into a house and grab an infant, mom is on full alert for every sound and movement.

These days why risk such methods when you can have parents practically giving you their children.
What will the future be i wonder?
microchips and cameras?
governemt raising of all children? children kept isolated until 18?

All because of a small group of people.
People who when caught viewing images serve 10 years per image for class 1 up to 50 per image class 5 (severest) consecutively.
Videos it's amandatory 100 yrs consecutive for each clip.
aAny abuser should be taken out and executed after an MRI to see what areas are affected by child porn and then their brains diseccted to see why they are what they are.
They can at least have some use to medical science and perhaps child safety

Anonymous said...

It doesn't surprise me either, not any longer, Natstelle. I had such a bad feeling when I let my little boy go off on that boy scouts camping trip for a long week-end, like a warning in my spirit. I didn't want to leave him there that morning, but I had already purchased his camping bag and all his supplies and he was so excited about going.

Not only did I have an immediate disliking for the leader of his group, but I had a feeling of dread the whole week-end he was gone and knew then I'd never let him go again. We should pay attention to our gut instincts and I didn't. My biggest fear during that week-end was that there might be a bus accident or he might wander off from the group and get lost, or some other bad accident.

The thought of child molestation never occured to me until later on, as we never heard much about child molestation back then, and we were led to believe that leadership by the boy scouts troups was the best thing you could do for your little boys. I thought it was vital since I was divorced and he had no daddy around to teach him things.

It has only been in later years that all this has come up about molestation in the boy scouts, the catholic churches,(and others), friends, neighbors, family members, coaches and everywhere else. One out of four little boys have been molested/raped and one out of three little girls. THAT is vast, and not just an occasional thing; and that is only those we know about.

I get a sick feeling when I think about all the occasions when either one of my sons could have been molested by people I trusted. Can't fix it now. I just wish all the children, and those who are now adults, would talk and all the pedophiles would be prosecuted and behind bars. ALL of them.

Anonymous said...

Whitney's husband didn't do it, it was a neighbor (per the story the comments above refer to about the missing wife).

Yet another instance where when given hard facts, what SA would have bore out based on its principles would have been wrong. Often, as in the case of Hailey Dunn and countless others, there is no proof its accuracy (though I believe Hailey Dunn's mother and her bf to be responsible).

What we "know" is dangerous when in fact, our formula is unprovable.