Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/452792
ByGillianFlaccus The Associated Press SANTA BARBARA The sex- ual abuse of a 13-year-old scout by an adult volunteer was part of a "sordid his- tory of child sexual abuse" within the Boy Scouts that has been documented inter- nally by the organization for nearly a century, the vic- tim's attorney said Monday in his opening statement at a civil trial in California. The scout, now 20, has sued the Boy Scouts of America and a local scout- ing council for punitive damages after being mo- lested by a volunteer leader in 2007. He claims in his negligence lawsuit that the Scouts failed to educate, train and warn parents and adult volunteers about the dangers of sex abuse. His attorney, Tim Hale, won the right to draw from more than 30 years of "per- version" files kept by the Scouts as evidence at trial to support those allega- tions. The files cleared for use by Santa Barbara Su- perior Court Judge Donna D. Geck include 16 years of documents — from 1991 to 2007— that have never been seen before outside the Scouts. Hale told the jury that when the case is over they will receive a CD of 100,000 pages of files to review while they deliberate. "You're going to be the first people in the United States with the opportu- nity to review these files," Hale said. Hale said in his opening remarks that the Scouts re- corded between 9,000 and 10,000 such files between 1920 and 2007. He intends to use documents dating from 1971 to 2007 to build his case. "The Boy Scouts of Amer- ica has a long and sor- did history of child sexual abuse committed against young Scouts . committed by Scout leaders and that timeline goes back, the files show, until at least the 1920s," he said. "What has not been go- ing on is notice to the pub- lic and notice to (the plain- tiff) and his parents," the lawyer added. An attorney for the Boy Scouts countered that the "perversion" files were cre- ated to keep children safe by maintaining a master list of people ineligible to volunteer with the Scouts. The organization ac- knowledges mistakes in the way sex abuse allegations were handled in the past but now has a robust child pro- tection program and parent training, attorney Nicholas Heldt said in his opening statement to jurors. From 2003 to 2007, a key period for the lawsuit, only 27 adult volunteers were kicked out annually for sexually abusing Scouts, al- though there were at least 1.5 million volunteers na- tionally, he said. When the plaintiff was abused, the youth protec- tion training worked be- cause the boy recognized the abuse, resisted and told his mother, Heldt said. She, in turn, told local Scout leaders who informed law enforcement. "This case is about train- ing and whether training would have made a differ- ence," he told jurors. "I think this is a case in which the one instance of sexual abuse against (the plaintiff) could not have been prevented and it wasn't prevented," he said. "But the training program may have helped prevent the second or the third in- stance of sexual abuse." The victim's name is be- ing used in court but The Associated Press does not generally name victims of sexual abuse. The records allowed by the judge could reveal how much the national organi- zation has improved its ef- forts to protect children and report abuse after several high-profile cases sparked the youth protec- tion policy in the late 1980s. Previous large verdicts against the Scouts focused on cases where alleged abuse occurred before the policy was put in place. In 2012, the Oregon Su- preme Court ordered the Scouts to make public a trove of files from 1965 to 1985. The records showed that more than one-third of abuse allegations never were reported to police and that even when authorities were told, little was done most of the time. Those documents came to light after a jury in 2010 imposed a nearly $20 mil- lion penalty against the Scouts in a molestation case in Portland, Oregon, that dated to the early 1980s. Since then, plaintiffs' at- torneys in several states, in- cluding Texas and Minne- sota, have sought to publi- cize the more recent records through similar lawsuits but the cases have settled before trial. The current lawsuit al- leges that Scouts volunteer Al Stein, now 37, pulled down the plaintiff's pants when he was 13 and fondled him while the two worked in a Christmas tree lot. The boy suffered bruises and a laceration in the assault and still suffers from anx- iety, depression and post- traumatic stress disorder that prevent him from leav- ing the house, Hale said. Stein pleaded no con- test to felony child endan- germent in 2009 and was sentenced to probation. He served time in prison after authorities discovered pho- tos of naked children on his cellphone. He was paroled early, however, and was last liv- ing in Salinas, California, as a registered sex offender. Under the judge's ruling, records that Hale does not use in open court will re- main sealed. After trial, the plaintiff's counsel and other inter- ested parties can petition the court for the release of all the files. That's what happened in Oregon. The Oregon Su- preme Court ordered the Scouts to make all the doc- uments public after The Associated Press and other media outlets intervened. CIVIL TRIAL La wy er s ay s Bo y Sco ut fi le s sh ow ' so rd id ' hi st or y of a bu se CALIFORNIADEPARTMENTOFJUSTICE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Former Boy Scout leader Al Stein pleaded no contest to felony child endangerment in 2009. By Eileen Sullivan The Associated Press WASHINGTON Law en- forcement is concerned that the popular Waze mo- bile traffic app by Google Inc., which provides real- time road conditions, can also be used to hunt and harm police. Waze is a combination of GPS navigation and social networking. Fifty million users in 200 countries turn to the free service for warn- ings about nearby conges- tion, car accidents, speed traps, traffic cameras, con- struction zones, potholes, stalled vehicles or unsafe weather conditions. Waze users mark police — who are generally work- ing in public spaces — on maps without much distinc- tion other than "visible" or "hidden." Users see a police icon, but it's not immedi- ately clear whether police are there for a speed trap, a sobriety check or a lunch break. To some in law enforce- ment, this feature amounts to a stalking app for people who want to harm police. They want Google to dis- able that feature. The growing concern is the latest twist in Google's complicated relationship with government and law enforcement. It places the Internet giant, again, at the center of an ongoing global debate about public safety, consumer rights and pri- vacy. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck complained in a letter to Google's chief executive on Dec. 30 that Waze could be "misused by those with criminal intent to endanger police officers and the community." The Los Angeles Police Department did not im- mediately respond to ques- tions about whether Google addressed Beck's concerns. Google purchased Waze for $966 million in 2013. There are no known con- nections between any at- tack on police and Waze, although Beck said Waze was used in the killing of two New York Police De- partment officers on Dec. 20. The Instagram account of the gunman in that case included a screenshot from Waze along with other mes- sages threatening police. Investigators do not be- lieve the shooter, Isma- aiyl Brinsley, used Waze to ambush the NYPD offi- cers, in part because police say Brinsley tossed his cell- phone more than two miles from where he shot the offi- cers. In his letter to Google, Beck said that Brinsley had been using the Waze app to track police since early De- cember. "I am confident your company did not intend the Waze app to be a means to allow those who wish to commit crimes to use the unwitting Waze commu- nity as their lookouts for the location of police offi- cers," Beck wrote. Some officers, like Sher- iff Mike Brown of Bedford County, Virginia, think it's only a matter of time be- fore Waze is used to hunt and harm police. Google declined to com- ment and directed ques- tions to a Waze spokes- woman, Julie Mossler, who said the company thinks deeply about safety and se- curity. She said Waze works with the New York Police Department and others around the world by shar- ing information. WAZE La w en fo rc emen t offic ia ls u rg in g Google to disable police-tracking app TED BRIDIS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS This image taken from the Waze app shows police at the scene on the app. | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2015 4 B