A 1964 case involving an assistant Scoutmaster in Shamokin that claims he sexually abused two boys is among those detailed in the Boy Scouts secret "perversion files" released Thursday by order of the Oregon Supreme Court.
It is the only case identified in the extensive database of old Boy Scouts of America (BSA) files that involves eastern Northumberland County, although cases from 1994 in Watsontown and Turbotville are mentioned, but without documentation.
The Shamokin case, meanwhile, includes six accompanying documents that give the man's name and his address at the time.
Through further research by The News-Item, it is believed the man involved died on Oct. 12, 2003, at age 72. Therefore, his name is not being used in this story.
An obituary lists the same first and last names and same middle initial as the Scout documents, and the man's age aligns with the released documents, too.
When he died, the man still lived in Shamokin, though at a different address then what was reported in the 1964 documents. According to his obituary, he worked jobs outside the area at times during his life.
He died at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, where he had been hospitalized for one week. The obit said he was born Feb. 25, 1931.
Letters give details
A series of four letters among BSA officials from March to June 1964 provide details about the case, and show the scouting agency's efforts to keep such records confidential.
On March 13, Peter Bistransin, Scout executive for the Susquehanna Valley Area Council of BSA, wrote to Howard Boyd, director of registration for BSA, listed with a New Brunswick, N.J., address, and said, "We would like to put this man (listing his name and address) on the confidential list. He was registered as an assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 254, Shamokin, Pa."
The brief letter has just one other sentence, noting an attached newspaper article. That clipping, which does not include a date, is headlined, "Local man held for giving beer to teen-agers." It says the man was arrested on charges of corruption of minors stemming from an incident involving two boys, ages 15 and 16. It said he was charged following incidents over eight months at his home, and that testimony of two minor children revealed he was accused of "serving intoxicants to several youths 15 and 16 years of age." Witnesses told police they saw other minor children drinking beer at his home, the article says.
It said he was committed to prison in Sunbury on $5,000 bail, and that other charges may be filed against him.
It's not clear from the files if more charges were ever filed, but a letter four days later from Boyd back to Bistransin includes note of a "confidential record sheet" that he asks to have completed. The completed form, which included "division of personnel BSA" in its title, is part of the files released.
It includes basic information about the assistant scoutmaster, including his address, age, height and weight, that he is Protestant, a high school graduate and single. Under the heading, "Recommended for confidential file for following reasons:" the following information is provided: "Subject was arrested by the state police, Shamokin, Penna., on Feb. 26, 1964, for the crime of sodomy, allegedly committed in his residence, where he had approximately 20 young men that would frequent the residence. Two of these boys admitted that he performed these unnatural sex acts on their person. He denies these acts, but does not deny that he is a pervert."
No police records of such charges are included in the documents released as part of the "perversion files," and no stories regarding the case could be found in News-Item archives around this same time period.
Even a later exchange of letters involving Bistransin and Boyd seem to contradict some of the earlier details.
On May 17, Bistransin wrote to Boyd saying BSA had not received the confidential record sought in the March letter. Boyd, in a letter dated June 18, said he had sent a confidential notice "sometime in April." He also wrote: "The notice was completed by the Pennsylvania State Police. I had also sent in a newspaper clipping. He was arrested for corrupting the morals of minors. He appeared in court but was acquitted on these charges. I will see that you get a confidential report on this."
More obit details
The man's obit does not note his involvement in Scouts, although that would be expected considering his apparent removal from the organization under such circumstances. It also has no record of the man having been married, which corresponds with the "confidential record sheet" that says he was single, at least in 1964.
The newspaper clipping gives his age as 33; assuming it was published around the time of the correspondence in the spring of 1964, it computes with the man having been born in February 1931. Interestingly, the "confidential record sheet" lists the man's age as 32, which may have been slightly outdated.
Other regional cases
The Watsontown and Turbortville cases are listed with 1994 dates, according to the database, and involved troops 610 and 622, respectively. As of Friday evening, there was no further documentation attached to those cases.
Three cases are mentioned for Schuylkill County involving Troop 115 in Tower City in 1990, Troop 21 in Shenandoah in 1982 and Troop 612 in Pine Grove in 2001. In Union County, Troop 528 in Lewisburg also had a case listed from 1994.