Two of 52 former New Jersey Boy Scout leaders identified as alleged sexual abusers of boys—one from Emerson and one from Old Tappan—were publicly named in a list that the Boy Scouts of America called their “Ineligible Volunteer Files” released April 23 by a law firm hoping to end decades of abuse and coverup in the organization.
The 52 New Jersey Boy Scout leaders were among over 7,000 alleged child sex abusers nationwide connected to Scout activities over six decades and named in a secret list also known as the “Perversion Files,” which was shared among Boy Scout organizations to bar possible sexual predators from the Boy Scouts.
The two North Jersey scout leaders are no longer involved in scouting. The alleged perpetrators named included Robert J. Coakeley, of Emerson Troop 337, Explorer 337, and Anthony J. Martginetti of Old Tappan Troop 132. Efforts to reach Coakeley and Martginetti were not successful and Boy Scouts of America’s public relations office provided no details on their years in Boy Scouts or numbers or potential victims.
Inquiries made by Northern Valley Press were sent to the Boy Scouts of America national public relations office and details about specific allegations were not addressed.
‘Perversion’ database
A detailed Los Angeles Times database offers revealing details about the two local scout leaders. The comprehensive database, “Inside the ‘Perversion Files,’” tracks decades of Boy Scout abuse allegations nationwide.
Coakeley was accused of molesting Christopher Schultz, then 11, in the summer 1978, at a Boy Scout-sponsored summer camp in Forestport, N.Y., and also forced the 11-year-old to perform sexual acts in the Assumption School’s friary after providing pornographic materials to him later that same year.
The boy committed suicide on May 29, 1979, by drinking poison and at one point he told a nurse at the Holy Name Hospital emergency room “it’s not worth living,” according to published reports.
Coakeley was a former scoutmaster of a troop at the parochial Assumption School in Emerson, and a member of Ohio-based Franciscan Brothers of the Poor. He taught history and science at the school. Coakeley was removed from the school after Schulz’s parents told the archdiocese and Franciscans of their son’s allegations.
The boys’ parents filed a $10 million lawsuit against Boy Scouts of America and the Franciscans, a Roman Catholic order, alleging negligence for entrusting Coakeley with young men. The files did not indicate the suit’s outcome.
Former Old Tappan Scoutmaster Martginetti, also publicly named, was sentenced to three years’ probation in 1990, after pleading guilty to several charges including “impairing the morals of a minor,” according to the files in the Los Angeles Times database.
In a June letter to BSA National Council in Texas, Bergen Council BSA Field Director Edward Rasmuson recommended Martginetti be placed on the ineligible volunteer list. He was accused of 13 criminal offenses for sexual abuse of a minor related to an incident in October 1988, said Rasmuson in a letter to BSA’s National Council.
Another incident documented in the Times’ database names Raymond Krajewski, an adult advisor at the Alpine Scout Camp who was accused in spring 1989 of attempting to undo a string on a male camper’s sweatpants during the night. The camper awoke to find Krajewski, who told him to “go back to bed,” reports a “Suspected Child Abuse Reporting Form” submitted by Gerard J. Chiara, Scout Lodge advisor.
The incident was reported to the Scout Executive and the child was told to speak to his parents and sent home with them after the incident. No police notification is mentioned.
The L.A. Times’ database, spreadsheets.latimes.com/boyscouts-cases, contains files on nearly 5,000 men and a few women removed from Boy Scouts of America between 1947 and 2005 on suspicions of sexual abuse. The database is compiled from “confidential Scouting files submitted as evidence in court cases,” notes the website.
New sexual abuse alleged
According to a trio of law firms involved with releasing names of alleged sexual predators involved with the Boy Scouts, over 200 new allegations of sexual abuse were received in recent weeks.
Attorney Tim Kosnoff, who has litigated sexual abuse cases against the Scouts and Mormon Church, told a news conference April 24 that they have identified 150 alleged pedophiles never before publicly accused.
‘Barely scratched the surface’
“We’ve barely scratched the surface,” Kosnoff told reporters. “We’re talking about tens of thousands of victims out there when you consider the FBI in their research says a perpetrator has over 100 victims over a lifetime of offending.”
Another attorney working with Kosnoff, Kenneth Rothweiler, said 90 percent of sexual abuse allegations received are new accusations, from individuals who were abused decades ago and never reported it.
When Northern Valley Press contacted the Northern New Jersey Boy Scout Council several times for information on specific allegations of sexual abuse, an email response came from the national office.
‘Apologize to anyone harmed’
“The Northern New Jersey Council cares deeply about all victims of child abuse and we apologize to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting. We believe victims and we support them. Our national organization has paid for unlimited counseling by a provider of their choice,” said the BSA statement.
“Nothing is more important than the safety and protection of children in Scouting and we are outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to abuse innocent children,” said the statement emailed from the address PR@scouting.org.
In a news conference April 24, Michael Surbaugh, chief scout executive, Boy Scouts of America, said in 2018 “there were five known victims of sexual abuse in our scouting programs at a time when there were 2.2 million youth in our programs. We steadfastly believe that one incident of abuse is one too many and we are continually improving all of our policies to prevent abuse.”
He continued, “Experts note that among the general United States population, one in six men have experienced sexual abuse or assault at some point in their lives. This is an unacceptable public health problem that must be addressed, and we seek to be part of the solution along with all other youth-serving organizations.”
The Boy Scouts of America has been maintaining its list of “ineligible volunteers,” referred to now as its “Volunteer Screening Database,” since the 1920s when the lists were first compiled to screen out inappropriate candidates, according to a BSA press statement.
At the BSA news conference, psychiatry Professor Janet Warren, University of Virginia, said after reviewing the BSA’s Volunteer Screening Database “that the scouting program is safe and BSA’s use of a database to prevent unsuitable adults from accessing children was cutting edge and it worked. Even through the years when there were no computers, the BSA’s efforts were effective in keeping unsuitable volunteers from gaining access to youth.” Warren has been a consultant to BSA since 2012, when some initial files of “ineligible volunteers” were released publicly.
Warren said 100 percent of cases of alleged sexual abuse were reported to law enforcement over the previous 50 years, though no BSA statistics were available on legal outcomes based on the reported abuse.
Other sex abuse cases
The newly released allegations of widespread sexual abuse in Boy Scouts follows on the heels of state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal’s sting that caught 16 individuals attempting to lure children for sex, including a police officer and minister.
This investigation followed February’s statewide release by New Jersey’s five Catholic archdioceses that identified 188 priests “credibly accused” of sexual abuse.
Victims’ advocates criticized the church for not naming priests serving in all Catholic orders, nor naming priests involved in current abuse litigation.
The church also declined to state the specific number of victims of alleged clerical sexual predators with what they termed “multiple victims.”
The February release of 188 “credibly accused” priests’ names followed Grewal’s clergy investigation, begun in September, into New Jersey’s Catholic archdioceses, which had followed a Pennsylvania attorney general investigation that determined 300 priests had molested over 1,000 victims over a 70-year period in that state. Grewal’s investigation of New Jersey priests is ongoing.
‘Uphold those barriers’
While little specific information about individuals listed in the Boy Scouts’ so-called “Perversion Files” was forthcoming, a BSA press release said the organization “has adopted some of the strongest barriers to abuse in any youth-serving organization and we take the responsibility to uphold those barriers seriously.”
The release said mandatory “youth protection training” is given to scout leaders; BSA conducts criminal background checks; a youth is never alone with a scout leader and no youth is permitted to sleep in a tent with an adult other than his parent/guardian; and BSA offers a toll-free 24/7 helpline to report abuse at 1-844-726-8871.
‘Next call…law enforcement’
“Further, we mandate that all allegations or suspicion of abuse are reported to authorities. In addition to removing the individual from scouting, this means that if we receive a report regarding any suspicious activity or allegations of abuse, our next call is to law enforcement, whose investigation we support unequivocally,” said the BSA statement.
The law firms releasing the names have established a hotline and website, abusedinscouting.com, in addition to publicizing their representation for sexual abuse victims on television and Google ads.
Many names released publicly by law firms involved in sexual abuse litigation were available from previous court sexual abuse cases released incrementally over decades and aggregated in a Los Angeles Times database in 2012, said Stacey Benson, an attorney with Jeff Anderson & Associates, Minn., one of the law firms who released names of Boy Scouts’ alleged sexual abusers on April 23.
Benson said the names released were compiled by her law firm to focus on alleged Boy Scout predators from New Jersey and New York.
She said the victims of sexual predators—estimated nationwide at 12,554 by a consultant hired by BSA—were not broken down by state.
Benson noted in New Jersey a bill to expand the statute of limitations in civil cases for sexual-assault victims has been sitting on Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk awaiting his signature since late March.
Known as the “Sexual Assault Victim’s Bill of Rights,” it provides assault victims more time to file lawsuits against their abusers. Murphy is expected to sign the bill.
The bill was long-opposed by the Catholic Church but picked up momentum and support following release of the Pennsylvania attorney general’s report on abusive priests and the New Jersey attorney general’s ongoing investigation into clergy sexual abuse.
It allows adults who were abused as children to bring a civil suit up until age 55, or seven years after they “discover” that their emotional and psychological injury is related to prior sexual abuse. Victims previously barred from filing a civil lawsuit under existing law would get an additional two-year time period to pursue an assault case.
District 37 Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle is among the bill’s sponsors.
Huttle joined other Assembly sponsors in late March issuing a joint statement of support for bill passage.
“Many [assault] survivors need the time to find the strength to confront their abusers and get the justice they need and deserve. We must recognize the incredible stress, turmoil and pressure victims feel when dealing with their abuse and adjust the law accordingly to allow enough time for them to begin to heal,” she said.