SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - The Boy Scouts of America is an organization known for its honor and badges of merit, but for years lawyers have argued leaders were hiding boxes of "dishonor." Those boxes were made public Oct., 19.
We found than 20,000 disturbing documents detailing the sexual abuse of young boys by scoutmasters and volunteers.
Three of the men named were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These were men that people in their local wards thought they could trust. Obviously this is pushing parents to take a closer look at the scouts leaders in their local wards.
Scout documents reveal Latter-day Saint sexual predators to be Eric Hacking from Orem, Gerald Burgie of Ogden and Leroy Harvey Richins from Provo.
ABC 4's Noah Bond brought this information to parents, "Your thoughts or reaction. These guys were LDS. They were supposed to be good guys." Frank Martinez responded, "I'm not LDS, but I don't say the Church is at fault for that either. They can't have control over every member."
Bond called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesman Scott Trotter for reaction from the Church. He replied with this statement, "....the Church has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind and is extremely proactive in its efforts to prevent it and help victims when it does occur."
Parents say they're shocked and saddened and are speaking out in reaction to the facts revealed in unsealed documents.
"It's difficult we can't trust each other especially if it's someone of your same faith and their supposed to share your same beliefs and values so again as a parent I think that's a think you have to be really cautious about," said Tiffani Stowe from Casper, Wyoming.
The Latter-day Saint Church is asking reporters to turn questions about these unsealed sex abuse cases to the Boy Scouts of America.
