Local Sex Abuse Survivor Reacts to Boy Scouts Scandal

By Doug Magditch
KDAF
September 17, 2012

www.the33tv.com/news/kdaf-local-sex-abuse-survivor-reacts-to-boy-scouts-scandal-20120917,0,1284045.story

[with video]

IRVING — Hundreds of allegations of child sex abuse went unreported. Some were even covered up. That's according to a report by the LA Times.

The accused? Irving-based Boy Scouts of America.

The LA Times uncovered these allegations in the Boy Scouts of America's confidential "perversion files," dated from 1970-1991.

Out of 1,600 files uncovered, 400 allegations went unreported, and 100 were covered up, according to the article.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is calling for criminal action.

Mike Hammer, a local member of SNAP, spoke to CW33 about his personal story of sexual abuse.

"They've been walking around with guilt for 20 years, thinking 'what did I do to make my scout master do this? What signal did I give my scout master that this is what I wanted?' They'll walk around with the guilt. Rarely does the perpetrator walk around with the guilt," said Hammer.

"These pedophiles, they look for organizations that they can infiltrate and they can take advantage of the system."

"You feel betrayed by the organization that you have put so much trust and so much love in to that they allowed this to happen to me."

"You feel as though you have no control. It wasn't until I started talking about it, trying to confront my old church with it that I felt empowered. Before then I felt guilty. I felt I had done something wrong. That's the victim mentality."

"I am not surprised, because this is the way any organization, when first confronted with sexual abuse handles it. Whether you're Penn State, whether you're the Boy Scouts, or whether you're a small church, the tendency is to try to protect the leadership. And, usually to the sacrifice of the victim."

"Betrayal is tough to handle from an organization that you're supposed to trust so much."

Contact: doug.magditch@cw33.com