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Crime, Law and Justice
Nina Moini
St. Paul

Attorney asks for release of list of Boy Scouts' ineligible volunteers

Boy Scouts headquarters
A sign for the National Office outside the Boy Scouts of America Headquarters in February 2013 in Irving, Texas. Jeff Anderson, an attorney for sexual abuse victims, asks a court to release a list of Boy Scouts’ ineligible volunteers.
Tom Pennington | Getty Images 2013

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A Ramsey County district court judge said Tuesday he will issue a written decision at a later date regarding whether to release a list of ineligible volunteers from the Boy Scouts of America.

Judge Leonardo Castro listened to arguments for nearly two hours from attorneys for the Boy Scouts of America and St. Paul-based attorney Jeff Anderson.

Anderson represented a victim, known only as John Doe 180, in a 2014 case during which he obtained the list.

Anderson claims there are 12 people on the list who were accused of sexually abusing children who currently have access to children, but he can't release the list without the judge's permission.

“There is grave and real and present peril,” Anderson told reporters after the hearing.

Garth Unke, an attorney for the Boy Scouts, raised concerns in court about privacy and told the judge the terms of the 2014 settlement did not include releasing the information Anderson is now seeking to make public. Unke said the Boy Scouts of America has already turned over relevant information to law enforcement.

Anderson said that doesn't matter if the public doesn't see the names.

"A report to law enforcement more often than not results in no prosecution and those people remain in the community,” Anderson said. “This is the situation in many, if not most of these cases because the statute of limitations often times prevents it from being prosecuted."

Anderson raised his concerns in April, after he says new information came to light during the testimony of a researcher involved in an unrelated recent case.

At that time, Anderson released sworn testimony from University of Virginia professor Janet Warren, who was hired by the Boy Scouts to conduct a study of the organization's sexual abuse files. That report found that 12,254 children were allegedly abused by 7,819 Scout leaders.

Anderson said he believes the information needs to be known, so he sounded the alarm. He said the Boy Scouts can also release the information.

Attorneys for the Boy Scouts of America declined to comment after the hearing.

Judge Castro said he does not think it is within his legal authority to release the information, but took the matter under advisement and said he will issue a written decision at a later date.