The Scout Molestation Meritless Badge
Brave Former Scout Deserves Praise
HUSH-HUSH: There’s the Penn State football hidden-ball molestation play, the Catholic Church Hail Mary molestation pass, and, in Santa Barbara, the Boy Scout molestation meritless badge.
A Santa Barbara family is seeking punitive damages against the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) because their 13-year-old son was molested by a Scout volunteer and because a top area Scout executive allegedly tried to prevent the boy’s mother from reporting the abuse to authorities.
After the 13-year-old told his mother that he was abused by 400-pound Scout volunteer Al Steven Stein in late 2007, she was “shocked and angry.” But when she told area Scout executive David Tate about it, he urged her not to report it, according to a civil suit pending in Superior Court. “It is not necessary,” Tate said, according to the mother.
