SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- An Oregon
Supreme Court ruled the Boy Scouts Of America hand over files detailing alleged
abuse by employees and volunteers across the country. Central Coast News has
found some of the alleged cases happened right here on the Central Coast from
Santa Cruz to Santa Maria.
The Boy Scouts Of America have
kept hundreds of files locked up for decades.
"They're in a lot of trouble
because now that these records have been revealed and now that we know there
have been instances of molestation, potentially, that opens up the flood gates of
lawsuits against The Boy Scouts of America and individually against the
perpetrators of these hideous crimes," says Santa Maria attorney Michael
Clayton.
In 1990, a computer programmer
named Donald Wright from Santa Cruz was accused of two separate incidents one
accusing him of inviting a minor to participate in oral sex and masturbating in
front of a minor.
And in 1991, a male nurse named Richard Wolfersteig was
accused of showing a minor a pornographic magazine.
These reports can be found in a
database of about 3,200 files opened from 1947 to 2005.
But have been kept secret which
therapists say is a huge problem in child sex abuse cases.
"We've got adults who care more about their careers or
the image of their organization than what these children need which is safety,"
says Santa Maria Marriage and Family Therapist Erin Bunnell. "We have people in
authority roles who are seeking to protect the image of their organization which
I think come down to money."
Clayton says not only do the
perpetrators face serious consequences but now the victims can go after
Boy Scouts Of America through civil and criminal lawsuits.
"They might be sued for millions
of dollars because they did a cover up when instead they should've been trying
to take care of the children that were injured back in the 90's, if they knew
about that!" says Clayton.
Central Coast News reached out to
The Boy Scouts Of America but have yet to receive a response.
According to Boy Scouts of America website, they've
conducted background checks on all volunteers since 2008 and have mandated any
suspicious activity to be reported to police since 2010.
