23 Minnesotans named in Boy Scouts' 'perversion files'
For decades, the Boy Scouts of America has kept thousands of pages of files on men they wanted to keep out of the scout leader ranks because they were suspected of molesting boys. Under court order of Thursday, the Boy Scouts released 14,500 pages of the files from dating 1959 to 1985 to an Oregon attorney, who shared the names.
Twenty-three Minnesota men are identified in documents, five from St. Paul, seven from Minneapolis and one each from Apple Valley, Bloomington, Chisholm, Eagan, Faribault, International Falls, Maplewood, Moorhead, Mounds View, Rochester and St. Louis Park, Fox 9 reports. Fox 9 names the men.
The files amount to a portrait of several decades of abuse and a corrosive culture of secrecy, the New York Times reports.
“You do not keep secrets hidden about dangers to children,” said lawyer Kelly Clark, one of those who fought for the documents' release, the Associated Press reported.