Texas Boy Scouts Leaders Among Those Accused Of Sexual Abuse

AUSTIN, TX — Nearly two dozen adult Boy Scout volunteers in Central Texas have been accused of sexual abuse since 1960, officials confirmed this week.

The Boy Scouts of America have identified more than 7,800 former leaders across the country who were accused of sexually abusing more than 12,000 children from 1994 through 2016, the Austin American-Statesman reported, citing testimony publicized Tuesday by attorney Jeff Anderson.

The memberships of the 23 accused who were identified were later revoked or denied, according to Charles Mead, the Central Texas spokesman for the Boy Scouts. “All of these are already adjudicated cases, so none of these are what you’d label as new allegations or new incidents,” Mead said of the Central Texas cases, as quoted by the Statesman.

Mead noted the Boy Scouts has revoked the membership of 112 individuals in Central Texas since 1991 and sent their records to the Boy Scouts’ ineligible volunteer file, according to the report. Of those, 15 were arrested or accused of child abuse or molestation, and 91 were charged with crimes like DWI, soliciting prostitution, embezzlement, spousal rape, narcotics possession, non-sexual assault, murder, aggravated assault on a peace officer, aggravated robbery, vehicular burglary, child abandonment and family domestic violence, Mead said, according to the report.

The remaining six either falsified their criminal record on the background check while attempting to register as a Scout leader or refused to follow the Boy Scouts’ youth protection policies, Mead told the newspaper.

The data is from the Boy Scouts’ ineligible volunteer file, a list of volunteers and others the Boy Scouts has removed and banned from its organization over accusations of policy violations, including allegations of sexual abuse, according to the report.

The most recent Central Texas incident was in 2014, when Adam Cason, a seasonal camp staff employee with no prior criminal record who was arrested for placing a camera in a camp staff shower facility, Mead said.

The Boy Scouts defines “Central Texas” as encompassing a 15-county region that includes Travis, Williamson, Hays, Dewitt, Gonzales, Lee, Bastrop, Mason, Llano, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Lavaca, Blanco and Gillespie.