Fifteen cases tied to NEPA
Of the 1,200-plus secret files released Thursday detailing sexual abuse within the Boy Scouts of America, 15 are connected to troops in Northeast Pennsylvania.
A search of the online database containing the files, which was built by the Los Angeles Times, makes mention of five files in Wayne, one in Wyoming, eight in Luzerne and one in Monroe County. Details on those files, which were ordered released by the Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday, were not completely available. The database is expected to be updated over the next few days.
The Boy Scouts have been criticized for the files, kept at Boy Scout headquarters in Texas, as shielding scoutmasters and others accused of molesting children. Called the "perversion files," they include memos, police reports, court records, letters from victims and family, as well as newspaper clippings about legal cases. They detail proven molesters but also unsubstantiated allegations.
The allegations in the files span the country and include military bases overseas.
Victims' names and identifying information is redacted in the files and on the database.
The database mentions scout troops "connected in some way to the accused" in Avoca, Exeter, Conyngham, Shickshinny, Nescopeck and Plains in Luzerne County; Honesdale and Hawley in Wayne County; Stroudsburg in Monroe County; and Noxen in Wyoming County.
Efforts to reach Marcel Cinquina, executive director of Boy Scouts of America, Northeastern Pennsylvania Council, were unsuccessful Thursday.