The Boy Scouts of America is facing a new round of allegations that it knew for years about pedophile scout leaders — but covered up the scandal with its secret “perversion files.”
Lawyers across New York state filed lawsuits on Wednesday on behalf of victims who say they were preyed upon by members of the organization as children decades ago.
The victims are now able to sue under the Child Victims Act, which took effect Wednesday — opening the floodgates for child sex abuse suits previously barred by the state’s statute of limitations.
Several civil complaints have been filed in the state so far against the Boy Scouts, including two in Albany and Erie counties that allege eight men were molested by scout leaders years ago.
The plaintiffs were members of the Twin Rivers Council and Niagara Frontier Council when they say they were “groomed” and abused by leaders, scoutmasters and senior scouts. Some were as young as 11 when the alleged abuse began.
The victims’ suits all accuse the Boy Scouts of covering up the rampant abuse in internal “perversion files” that flagged pedophiles within the organization.
The documents, which have not been made public, contain the names of more than 7,800 scout leaders and volunteers who have been accused of child sexual abuse from 1944 through 2016, according to court documents.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs hailed the Child Victims Act for bringing them one step closer to holding their alleged abusers accountable.
“Sexual predators and large institutions have attempted to hide heinous abuse for too long, and today, we can begin to heal the pain and suffering our clients in New York City have experienced over decades,” said Jennifer Freeman of the Marsh Law Firm, which filed the suits in conjunction with the law firm Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala, PLLC.
On Wednesday, the same group of lawyers also filed dozens of complaints against the Catholic Church and Rockefeller University Hospital, where Dr. Reginald Archibald abused more than a thousand children, a probe found.
The late pediatrician molested the youngsters under the guise of medical research between 1948 and 1990.
Reps for the Boy Scouts and Rockefeller University Hospital did not immediately return messages.
Additional reporting by Priscilla DeGregory