CLEVELAND — Attorneys in New York and New Jersey have once again placed the so-called Boy Scouts of America "perversion files" front and center during an April 23 news conference.
Attorney Jeff Anderson claims the documents show more than 7,800 perpetrators the Boy Scouts believed were involved in sexually abusing children from 1965 to 1985, News 5 learned 57 on the list were from Ohio.
Attorney's said the documents also show 12,000 alleged instances of child abuse, and were only kept to keep those on the list from continuing in scouting and nothing more.
"They may have removed them from scouting, but they never alerted the community that this teacher, this coach, this scout leader, who is known to them to be a child molester," Anderson said.
New York passed a law that expands the statute of limitation on sexual abuse up until the alleged victim turns 55-years-old.
Ohio's statute of limitations is up to 20 years after the alleged sexual abuse, 25 years if there is DNA evidence.
The list was only made public after a civil lawsuit was filed by Crew Janci LLP in 2012.
The Boy Scouts of America issued the following response:
"We care deeply about all victims of child abuse and sincerely apologize to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting."
"We believe victims, we support them, and we have paid for unlimited counseling by a provider of their choice."
"Nothing is more important than the safety and protection of children in Scouting and we are outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to abuse innocent children."
"Every instance of suspected abuse is reported to law enforcement. The organization went back decades and reported to instances of abuse to law enforcement when it may have been unclear whether prior incidences had been reported. It is also worth noting that a majority of the names in the database are already available to the public through media stories or police reports."
Just last year, News 5 Investigator Ron Regan worked with California child sexual abuse attorney Anthony Demarco.
News 5's story uncovered 86 victims in 26 states in the Boy Scout's Explorer program, and resulted in new Youth Protection Training policies.
Demarco told News 5 by telephone that continued awareness and examination of the "perversion files," promotes awareness, better policies and lets victims know they are not alone.
"Those that are courageous enough to come forward are often told they need to have corroboration, there needs to be other victims", Demarco said.
"But unfortunately, there's not enough courage."
