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A former Boy Scout leader is in jail after police say he molested a young Scout multiple times.
Court documents say back in 2005 and 2006, Orem resident Gary Brown molested the boy during a Scout camp, during a hike and even at Brown's home. The allegations just recently came forward.
Utah County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Brower said, "When your kids are around those type of people, you expect that they'll be safe. Unfortunately, some things happen."
Court documents say the boy was 12 years old when the abuse started. Court documents say Brown admitted to the abuse.
Brower says charges are often enhanced in cases like this because of the suspect's position of trust over the victim.
The Boy Scouts of America say they have several policies in place that should have prevented anything like this from happening. First, every Scout leader goes through a full background check before they're allowed to work with youth. Spokesman for the Utah National Parks council of the Boy Scouts John Gailey says that's just the first step. Next, they must complete youth protection training, which also must be renewed every two years.
"After they've completed those steps, then of course we have other training courses for them as well, but at that point they can begin working with our youth," Gailey said.
Gailey says they also have other "safety nets" in place to help prevent any possibility of abuse. For example, they have a two-leader deep rule, which would help prevent any adult ever being alone with a Scout in the first place.
"We teach the youth the same thing with the buddy system, they should always have a buddy with them, even when they are working with a Scout leader."
Gailey says that helps establish a barrier between youth and adults to help prevent abuse. Since the suspect in this case had gone through the youth protection training and passed the background checks, Gailey believes somewhere along the line, that last policy wasn't followed.
"My final message would be encouraging all parents, youth and leaders to implement those programs that we have set out to protect anything like this from ever happening again," Gailey said.
He says parents should know the safety of the children is the Scouts' first priority.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com
