In at Least 51 Wisconsin Cities, Scout Sex Offenders May Have Assaulted Youngsters

SNAP Wisconsin
October 18, 2012

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In at least 51 Wisconsin cities, scout sex offenders may have assaulted youngsters

Court ordered release of Boy Scout ‘Perversion Files’ reveal decades of cover up by Scouting officials

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director

CONTACT: 414.336.8575

The Boy Scout’s so-called “perversion files,” court ordered released yesterday by the Oregon Supreme Court, reveals that in Wisconsin alone, some 51 cities had troops where scouting officials quietly removed adult leaders or volunteers that were determined to have committed various sex crimes against children.

Of the over 1,200 case files spanning from 1947-2005, according to a database created by the Los Angeles Times, sex offending scout leaders litter the landscape of Wisconsin touching nearly every area of the state.

These cities include: Sheboygan, Black River Falls, Marinette, Milwaukee, Mosinee, Schofield, Madison, Janesville, Delavan, Cedarburg, Long Lake, La Crosse, Oxford, Appleton, Racine, Greendale, West Allis, Mondovi, Oneida, North Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, Sun Prairie, Pewaukee, Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Shorewood, Phelps, West Bend, Waupaca, Avery, Green Bay, Monroe, Colgate, River Falls, Beloit, Wausau, Tomah, Mukwonago, Lake, Jackson, Wisconsin Dells, Stoughton, Reedsburg, Rio, Rice Lake, Two Rivers, Wauwatosa, Marshfield, Rhinelander, Cuba City, and Gratiot.

Some of the names of the individual offenders are identified in the files, in other cases significant portions of the files are either missing or appeared to have been destroyed.

The Boy Scouts of America launched a vigorous legal battle to keep the documents secret but failed this week when the Oregon High Court ruled that the documents were to be released in the interest of public safety.

Currently, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, like the Boy Scouts, is engaged in its own ferocious legal combat in Federal Bankruptcy Court to keep over 50,000 pages of confidential documents and depositions secret concerning dozens of priest child sex offenders.

The evidence from the Boy Scouts files and the continual legal stonewalling of the Milwaukee Archdiocese are more demonstrable proof that institutions continue to put the reputation of institutional officials before the safety of children. Parents and the public need to know who these child sex predators are, where they are living, why they have not faced criminal prosecution, and what jobs and occupations they are currently engaged in.

As important, Scouting officials in Wisconsin and elsewhere who covered up for child sex offenders and allowed them continued access to children need to be held accountable for their conduct, and must be dismissed, fired or disciplined.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 23 years and have more than 12,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our national website is SNAPnetwork.org. The local Wisconsin website is SNAPwisconsin.com.