PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A psychologist testifying in a $14 million lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America says the Scouts put boys at risk by hiding information about child molesters among the organization’s troop leaders.
Gary Schoener is a national expert on child sex abuse. He told a Multnomah County Circuit Court jury on Wednesday that the confidential files the Boy Scouts kept on suspected abusers from 1965-84 were the deepest and most complete information about pedophiles then available in the country. But he said the organization showed a reckless indifference by not sharing the information with parents and authorities.
Attorneys for the Boy Scouts of America say the organization kept files on suspected molesters to protect children.
Charles Smith, attorney for the national Boy Scouts, earlier told jurors the documents helped national scouting leaders weed out sex offenders, especially repeat offenders who might have changed names or moved in an attempt to join another local scouting group.
