1960s Toms River Boy Scout Leader Named In Sex Abuse Files

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man who served the Boy Scouts as a Scoutmaster in the early 1960s is among those named by the national scouting organization among those accused of sexual abuse.

William R. Pratt is named in a series of letters documenting his arrest in October 1961 on what one newspaper headline from the time referred to as "morals charges."

Pratt's name was on a list of more than 50 Boy Scout leaders released Tuesday by the law firms of Greg Gianforcaro and Jeff Anderson & Associates who volunteered in New Jersey and were named in "perversion files" of the Boy Scouts of America, according to Mike Finnegan, an attorney with the firm.

"Those are files held and quartered at the Boy Scouts of America headquarters, and those perversion files that they've had reflect that they have removed thousands of offenders of childhood sexual abuse over the years, and they have kept that in files secretly," said Jeff Anderson, the lead attorney in many of the litigation cases.

Lawyers for both firms say they have uncovered the names through various lawsuits that have been filed against the Boy Scouts of America. Read more: Over 50 NJ Boy Scout Leaders Accused Of Sexual Abuse Named

The documents the organization kept on Pratt, now archived in database created by the Los Angeles Times, show he was arrested by police in then-Dover Township (the township changed its name to Toms River in 2006) on "morals charges" that included having sexual relations with some of the boys in his scout troop, who were 14 and 15 years old at the time. Affidavits in the file include statements from two of the boys saying Pratt bought beer before an overnight camping trip. He also repeatedly showed them magazines with nude photos, asked the boys if the photos aroused them, and grabbed their genitals at any opportunity, the boys told detectives.

The file also includes letters back and forth between the Ocean County Council of Boy Scouts and the national organization, alerting the national organization to the initial arrest and then updating the national organization after the case was sent to a grand jury.

In the initial letter, George Sparks, the Scout executive with the Ocean County Council, remarks that Pratt had come to the Ocean County group from Monmouth County early in 1961 after serving with the Boy Scout troop in Asbury Park. Sparks's letter indicates there were concerns even then about Pratt "but nothing tangible could be pinned on this man."

"Obviously, this man must be 'red-flagged' regardless of the outcome," Sparks wrote in the letter to Basil Starkey, the director of registration. In reply, Starkey asked Sparks to get copies of any affidavits in the case for the national council's files to give them all possible evidence to reject registration should Pratt try to register again in the future, saying the affidavits would be kept under lock and key and shown to no one.

What happened to Pratt in the years since then is not clear. He was 31 years old at the time of his arrest in 1961, and if he is alive today, would be 89 years old.

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