A Sarasota judge ordered the Boy Scouts of America to produce records this week documenting Scout-on-Scout sexual abuse from the last decade.
Damian Mallard, a Sarasota attorney representing two of three plaintiffs who claim they were sexually abused by fellow boy scouts in 2007 and 2009, claims the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) kept records of the abuse in their so-called ‘perversion files’ but never shared it with their community or other Boy Scouts.
This week a judge ordered the BSA to release those records. Mallard said the order was groundbreaking.
“This is the first time anywhere in the US that a) they acknowledge the files exist and b) that they have been ordered by a court to produce those files,” he said.
Mallard argued having informed other Boy Scouts at the time about the sexual abuse among Scouts would have helped prevent future abuse.
The three plaintiffs in this case were scouts in troops within the Southwest Florida Council arm of the BSA. They claim they were abused by teenage Troop leaders.
The Southwest Florida Council’s CEO Greg Graham said his organization takes these situations seriously.
“From top to bottom in the organization there is a vigilant focus when it comes to protecting our youth even with the slightest transgression, action is taken,” he said.
The lawsuit is set to go to trial sometime next year.
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