Sexual Abuse in Americas Mostlruste, Institution Scouts Honor Sexual M>«*« in America'* Most Trusted Institution Patrick Boyle Prima Publishing > P.O. Box 1260BK Rocklin, CA 95677 (916) 786-0426 © 1994 by Patrick Boyle All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from Prima Pub­ lishing, except for the inclusions of quotations in a review. Production by Andi Reese Brady Copyediting by Carol Dondrea Typography by Studio G Interior design by Kyp Griffin, Studio G Cover design by Lindy Dunlavey, The Dunlavey Studio, Sacramento Cover Illustration by Robert Gunn Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Boyle, Patrick, 1959- Scout's honor : sexual abuse in America's most trusted institution / Patrick Boyle. ' p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 1-55958-365-7 1. Child sexual abuse by Scout leaders—United States. 2. Child molesters—United States, 3. Boys—United States—Abuse of—Psychological aspects. I. Title. HV6570.2.B69 1994 93-23556 364.1'536—dc20 CIP 94 95 96 97 RRD 10 987654321 Printed in the United States of America To Lola Ruth Boyle Who always strived to do her best and taught her son to do the same. CONTENTS Prologue ix Acknowledgments xiii 1 • A Man and a Boy 1 2 . Sex in the Roots of the Movement 5 3 • Men and Boys 21 4 • Seduction 37 5 • The Confidential Files 55 6 • A Perfect Place 67 7 . Citizen of the Year 81 8 • A Boy's Secret 97 9 • Carl Meets the Cops 113 10 • A Company's Secret 125 11 • Impotent Justice 141 12 • Double Secret Probation 151 • vii • 13. Old Dominion 157 14 . Love Affairs 171 15. A Father's Fear 179 16. Trouble 193 17. Breaking Up 203 18 • Chasing Carl 215 19. This Is the Police 229 20 . The Company Under Attack 247 21 . Prison 263 22 . The Company Fights Back 269 23 • Brett on Trial 291 24 . Fixing the Boy Scouts 305 25 . Fixing Carl 319 Epilogue • Closing the Book 333 Notes 339 Glossary 371 Bibliography 375 Index 377 • vat • PROLOGUE he reader may want to know a few things about how and why this book was written. TA reporter at a daily newspaper spends a lot of time giving fleeting coverage to events that he knows deserve more. In a few paragraphs he tells readers all they'll ever know about how the police caught a killer, how doctors saved a baby, how a business went bankrupt. In 1986, while working for a small paper in New York, I read a news brief about a Scout leader arrested for abusing Scouts. I wonder how often this happens in the Boy Scouts, I said to a fellow reporter, and stuffed the article into an "ideas" file. For most reporters, the ideas file is a morgue, a collection of potential stories that no one will ever give them the time or resources to pursue. In this case, though, the resources showed up in court three years later. I was writing then for the Washington Times in Washington, D.C., reading stories by one of my colleagues about a local civil trial in which a child sought money from the Boy Scouts of America because he had been abusedby his Scoutmaster. For that case the BSA had to 'IX • • PROLOGUE• submit more than 200 files on leaders who had been kicked out of Scouting for suspected child molestation. When the trial was over I visited the boy's lawyer, who let me sit in his office and rummage through the documents. I brought one legal pad, in the naive belief that I'd take my notes that day and return with the foundation for a good article. I didn't know I'd live with those files for four years, or that they'd compel me to quit my job. The Boy Scouts call them "the Confidential Files," for good reason. Opening each file is like opening the door to someone's secret basement. They hold letters from molest­ ers to boys, letters from boys to police, letters from parents, police reports, court records, news clips, and memos among Scout officials. To me, they each revealed a story that seemed worth a book: A mother unwittingly asks an abuser to spend more time with her son, a molester is set free with no charge, a therapist mistakingly declares a pedophile cured, Scout officials scurry to keep an arrest from the press, an abuser tries to kill himself, a victim succeeds. Thus began two years of on-and-off research, includ­ ing trips to several states to track down molesters, victims, and court records; a computer search that unearthed hun­ dreds of stories about abuse in Scouting; and the creation of a computer database to analyze the mounds of information. In 1991 the Washington Times published a one-week series on sex abuse in the Boy Scouts. That series led to the creation of this book, for which I left the Times. My gamble here is believing I can give you something different from most of the other stories you've read about sex abuse. For one thing, this book is not primarily about children. This is about the men who molest them. No criminal in American society is more despised than the man who has sex with boys. Perhaps he has earned his status as pariah, but a decade after the McMartin preschool scandal ignited our war on the child molester, we still know little about why and how he does what he does. That's 'X • • PROLOGUE• because we don't want to hear him—we just want him to stop. This is understandable. His story sickens and angers us. But he doesn't stop. He is one of society's most prolific serial criminals. At the same time, he is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. These pages attempt to convey his tale by letting him talk, and by showing how he has thrived in America's most revered youth group. Eight former Scout leaders who molested boys granted interviews for this book. Seven of them molested Scouts. Four were interviewed in prison, one in his lawyer's office, one in the parking lot of a diner, and two by phone. None were happy to get letters and calls from a journalist. I- contacted dozens of molesters, most of whom said no. These eight, regardless of how horrible their offenses were, deserve thanks and admiration for having the guts to face a stranger's questions about what they did, and for trying to explain their acts without excusing them. You will soon get to know one of those men, Carl Bittenbender, quite well. From the beginning, I wanted Carl to be the central character of this book, for reasons I hope will become clear. Carl turned down my initial interview requests, so I moved ahead without him, poring over court records and interviewing his old friends. In early 1993 he changed his mind. He admits he came around partly to have input into how he is portrayed. But he and the other men also expressed the wish that their stories will help people understand this crime, and might even stop a few molesters by teaching parents how pedophiles work, or by compelling pedophiles to recognize them­ selves and get help. From February through July 1993,1 sat with Carl for II interviews, each time for 2 to 3 hours. We also had dozens of phone interviews, each lasting from 15 to 90 minutes. Carl cleared the way for friends, family members, therapists, and his boss to talk with me, gave the names of • xt * . PROLOGUE. old friends with whom he'd lost touch, let me attend his group therapy, and allowed a friend to hand me all the letters he'd written her over the years. He sat through an examination of his life that few people could bear. His cooperation yielded a far more detailed and insightful story than we would have had without him. A few words about names. The practice in journalism is to shield the identity of sex abuse victims, and that is the practice here. Most victims wanted their names changed. That means changing the names of their parents as well. v In addition, two convicted molesters were interviewed on the condition that their real names not beused, because they are out of prison and re-establishing their lives in new towns. Whenever a person's name or family name is changed, the pseudonym is marked with an asterisk the first time it appears in the text. The following names in this book are pseudonyms: Corbitt family (Brett, Cindy, Clark, John, and Michelle), Davidson family (Bobby, Fred, Rhonda, and Richard), Andrew DiFranco, Jacobson family (Mark and Ted), Randy Mellender, Victor Palmeroy, Skip, Ralph Th­ ompson, Webber family (Gary, George, and Ralph). There are two questions people often ask about the motives behind this book, so here are the answers: I was not molested as a child, and I was in the Boy Scouts, but very briefly. I joined a Cub pack and bought the handbook, but for logistical reasons never went to a meeting. Frankly, I was just as happy to stay home and play baseball, although I do wish I had learned some of what Scouting teaches. I view the Boy Scouts of America as a wonderful organization that does an immense amount of good for many children.