ALBANY -- The Boy Scout "perversion" files have hit close to home with more than 100 cases in New York State including at least one in the Capital Region.According to the report three cases, one each in Troy, Middleburgh and Whitehall, involve abuse of young boys by scoutmasters. Documents released by the Kelly Clark Law firm, in Oregon, shed light on cases that were covered up between 1965 and 1985. The law firm argued the first abuse case in the Boy Scouts in 2010.When the case was over the judge ordered the documents be released to the public. in all 1,250 cases of abuse were found nationwide."There are thousands, literally thousands of scouts that have suffered in silence and have not come forward and probably never will come forward," said Steve Crew an attorney who helped the firm unveil the documents.One document showed a former Assistant Fire Chief in Troy abused a young boy while camping. Letters obtained showed in 1974 Paul Bohrer resigned as a scoutmaster "due to serious emotional and psychiatric problems."A letter dated 14 days later from the Governor Clinton Council revealed Bohrer sexually abused the boy on a camping trip that involved just the two.Due to his action Bohrer was placed in the Confidential Restriction file."By in large they did nothing about it," Crew said of the Boy Scouts. "Other than to put the person in a file. Have his name listed in the file. But they did not go to the police about it, they did not go to the parents about it."The law firm has documents to show abuse was going on post 1985 at a rate "higher than the previous 20 years", said Crew. However the documents are still sealed because the cases have not yet been brought to court.The Boy Scouts destroyed many files in the 1970's so it's also unclear if the current report would be larger. In all from the time the organization was formed, in the 1920s Crew estimates a range of between 6,000 to as many as 25,000 cases.
