Boy Scouts of Babylon: Rank-and-Pedophiles
ONE IN A SERIES
Believe it or not, the following cases are not the worst among the Boy Scouts of America; tragically, these stories are almost mundane in comparison to others — which we’ll get to, in short order.
Gary Lee Gephart, assistant leader of a Dana Point, California, Cub Scout pack, was convicted in 1996 of molesting three boys between the ages of seven and 12. He was sentenced to 27 years to life.
Gerald Wayne Gunter was a 36-year-old volunteer with two Boy Scout troops in the Ashland, Oregon, area, when he was accused of sexually abusing a Boy Scout in 1985.
According to The Oregonian, Gunter pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual abuse charges and give a five-year probation. The same year, the boy’s family sued the BSA, which settled on undisclosed terms a couple of years later.
In July of 2010, Gunter’s name popped up on a generic “police blotter” report published by numerous news outlets (such as this one): “Felony arrests: Suspended license — Gerald Wayne Gunter, 61, of the 1500 block of Mill Creek Road, Ashland. An Oregon State Police trooper Friday arrested Gunter on felony driving with a suspended license. He was lodged in the Jackson County Jail and released after posting bail.”
Dallas, Texas-area Boy Scout and Cub Scout leader Scott Thomas Hartman was charged in February, 2010, with aggravated sexual assault against a ten-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl.
When the boy told his mother he was being molested, she didn’t believe him. A few weeks later, a school nurse noticed marks on the boy’s neck; when the boy reported that he was being physically abuse at home, the mother was arrested, and the boy and his three siblings were placed in foster care.
Meanwhile, the boy had turned to his school principal to report sexual abuse by Hartman, and from there, police were notified.
It was “under the care of foster parents who have also been trained as counselors,” explained the Express-News, “that a second child” —the four-year-old girl— “alleged Hartman sexually assaulted her, too.”
James Hiatt, of San Antonio, Texas, assistant Scoutmaster, was convicted in 2008 of nine counts of sexual abuse — five counts of indecency with a child and four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child — against a 12-year-old boy. Hiatt was sentenced to 60 years. Hiatt appealed his conviction in April, 2010; it was denied.
Michael Loch was a 24-year-old short-order cook, who, writes Patrick Boyle, “created a troop in 1989 and recruited members by knocking door to door in his neighborhood.” Arrested the same year, he “pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two young Scouts—” aged 11 and 13 “—and was sentenced to six years in prison,” and “probation for eight years after his release from state prison under a plea bargain,” according to the Sun Sentinel.
Loch was released in 1992. However… From the date of birth (1965) and the date of first conviction (1989), we believe the Michael Joseph Loch found in the Florida sex offender database is the same Michael Loch — in which case, he re-offended and was convicted of three separate charges in 2006: “Lewd or Lascivious Battery; Sex With Victim 12 To 15″ (Hillsborough, FL); “Sex Offender Fail[ed] To Comply With Section Requirements To Report To Department Of Law Enforcement” (Hillsborough, FL, and Pinellas, FL).
If we are correct (and we believe we are), Loch is currently (September, 2010) incarcerated.
Boy Scout leader Martin Turner of West Lake Hills, Texas, pleaded guilty in 2008 to two counts of indecency with a child by contact. Turner abused the boys in his home, when he was tutoring them, or having them do work around his house. Prosecutor Joe Frederick said “the testimony showed that the abuse happened over 35 years,” and involved as many as 12 boys. Sentenced to just five years, Turner will be eligible for parole in June, 2011.
Gregory Allen Wagner, of Los Altos, California, was the leader of Boy Scout Troop 31 of the Pacific Skyline Council, with which he had been associated for some 20 years. Arrested August 25, 2005, for committing a lewd act on a child under 14, continuous molestation of a child, and distributing harmful material to a child (pornography). “From 1987 to 1992, Scoutmaster Wagner has had inappropriate contact with numerous scouts, most of which were on scouting trips. When these incidents began, the victim’s ages ranged between 12-17 years.” (SCCoS)
Wagner confessed to molesting “dozens” of Scouts, but pleaded no contest to nine felony counts. He was sentenced to 23 years and four months.
Michael P. Walleshauser, Lockport, New York, husband and father of two, was a 50-year-old assistant Boy Scout leader active with the Scouts for more than 20 years when he was arrested July 16, 2010, and charged with predatory sexual assault of a child and criminal sexual act in the first degree, both felonies, and attempted sexual abuse in the second degree, a misdemeanor.
Walleshauser’s alleged victims — two boys under the age of 13 — were not Boy Scouts.
It is yet not known if there is enough evidence against Walleshauser for an indictment.
David Wayne Wiersema of Flower Mound, Texas, a longtime volunteer adviser for the Boy Scouts’ Order of the Arrow (”the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America [which] uses American Indian-styled traditions and ceremonies to bestow recognition on scouts selected by their peers as best exemplifying the ideals of Scouting”), was arrested in 2006, accused of sexually assaulting a young boy he was babysitting.
To his credit, Wiersema immediately confessed when questioned by police and resigned from the Scouts, telling the BSA he had made a “grave error.”
Wiersema is currently incarcerated in Texas. He will be eligible for parole in late 2019.
Related posts (automatically generated):
