SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – Three Utah Boy Scout leaders are among more than 1,000 alleged sexual predators revealed in more than 20,000 documents made public Thursday.
The documents list name by name Boy Scouts leaders accused of sexually abusing boys from 1965 to 1985. The Boy Scouts organization tried to suppress the papers, and you're about to read why.
***WARNING: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS GRAPHIC, AND MAY BE CONSIDERED DISTURBING.***
"I kept wishing to myself that he would take his arms off me," said one victim, according to document #0445.
"First ___ stroked his leg, then he pulled down his clothes again," said another account, according to document #0445.
They're the accounts of thousands of sexual abuse victims, now out in the open.
"____ took his thumb and forefinger and moved to a stroking action up and down the length of the penis, masturbating ____," continued the account from document #0445.
With the approval of the Oregon Supreme Court, more than 20,000 documents have now been released showing 20 years of abuse by select leaders of the Boys Scouts of America.
"Child abuse thrives in secrecy and secret systems are where it breeds and these secrets are out," said Kelly Clark, Sex Abuse Attorney.
The documents name more than 1,000 suspected sexual predators, including three in Utah – Eric Hacking from Orem, Gerald Burgie of Ogden, and LeRoy Harvey Richins from Provo.
In 1981, Burgie was convicted of "attempted sexual abuse (victim was a young boy)," according to document #0504.
In 1983 Hacking was "Found guilty of sexual abuse to a child" at the Maple Dell scout camp in Payson, according to document #0142.
It's the same place where a detailed sexual assault is described accusing LeRoy Richins in January of 1976, in document #0445.
It states LeRoy suggested he and an unnamed scout "ought to zip bags together and sleep together in order to stay warm." The scouts went to sleep but around 2:00 a.m. the victim "was awakened by ___ stroking his leg about 6 inches above the knee." It said "After stroking his leg for 2-3 minutes, ___ then reached above and pulled down his ____ long johns and shorts from his waist to just below his genitals" …and then "used both of his hands, the one manipulating ____'s testicles and the other stroking ____'s penis. He fondled ____ this way for 5 minutes."
The Boy Scouts of America fought to conceal these documents, claiming - keeping information confidential encouraged victims to report what was going on. The documents mentioned above may be the first of many more to come. A lawsuit in Texas is in the works, asking even more records to be released.
If you're wondering when those additional documents will be released, you may not have to wait long. The L.A. Times already has a jump on documents that stretch out to 2004. It claims they show a total of 86 sexual abuse cases with the Boy Scouts here in Utah.
To see the documents citing the alleged sexual abuse cases in Utah, click on the links embedded in this story.
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Follow Brian Carlson on Twitter: @tv_briancarlson
