By: Tyler Aliperto
The Manhattan Council of Boy Scouts has spent decades protecting scout leaders accused of child molestation.
A quick run-through of the LA Time’s Perversion Files reveals at least six men who were either accused of, or admitted to, child molestation and were never reported to authorities by the Manhattan Council.
Edward Rodriguez, Edward Bains, William (Bill) O’Rourke, Robert D’Amore, Daniel Aviles, and Alexander Warwick all either admitted to or were accused of heinous sexual acts with underage scouts. After the alleged abuse was brought to the attention of the Manhattan Council, each of these men were placed in a “confidential file” in the Boy Scouts of America’s database and were allowed to move on in their life without any police action.
Beginning in July of 1964, Edward Rodriguez admitted to having “immoral relations with at least three boys in Troop 739.” A reverend at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, located at 20 Cummings St. in New York City, confirmed Rodriguez’s confession. Holy Trinity’s history page of their website even mentions scout activities starting in the 1950s.
Following his admission, Troop Chairman Harold Lane wrote that one of their principle goals was to make the boys aware that this matter would not be revealed to anyone else, saying, “We have even gone so far as to concoct a reason why Ed Rodriguez left the troop.”
On July 19th of 1964, Rodriguez’s resignation letter states, “I hereby tender my resignation to take effect immediately for personal reasons known to the committeemen.” There is no mention of sexual molestation either by Rodriguez or the Manhattan Council.
Later in the same year, a letter from a scout executive talks about multiple incidents with Edward Bains and Troop 306.
The first incident came in the Winter of 1962, at Sanita Hills Camp in Whaley Lake, when a boy told his Scoutmaster that he saw Bains and an older scout “embracing” in a bunk. A year later, at Camp Kauffman (now a popular camp for the New York City Girl Scouts) in Dutchess County, one boy went missing only to “turn up in Bains’ tent, having spent the night there,” the letter goes on to say that, “The scout had none of his own bedclothes or blankets and did not clear permission from our leaders.”
The consequences for his actions?
On November 16 of 1964, a letter from a committee member says that Bains was relieved of his post and a check for $15.60 was credited to his account.
One year later, it was discovered that William O’Rourke, who lived near Yonkers, had engaged in “several homosexual acts” with “several scouts” in Troop 351.
He was added to a confidential record sheet and not allowed to register with the Boy Scouts again.
Fast forward more than 10 years, and in 1977 Robert D’Amore, from Mohegan Lake, is suspended from the Boy Scouts for “homosexual molestation of three scouts registered in his troop [Troop 284].”
Notes from the meeting in which D’Amore was suspended say that, “Mr. D’Amore admitted he had a problem and agreed to immediately discontinue any association with the Boy Scouts of America.”
A police report was never filed by the Manhattan Council.
It should be easy to see a common theme at this point; admitting to being a child molester gets you kicked out of the Boy Scouts. What it does not get you, however, is reported to the proper authorities by the Manhattan Council of Boy Scouts.
Another decade goes by, and in 1989 the Greater New York Council receives two letters. One letter indicates that Daniel Aviles molested his step-son for a number of years before the boy spoke up. Another, from a parent of a Troop 196 scout, says that Aviles sexually molested his son as well. Aviles’ pastor at Andrews United Methodist Church at 95 Richmond St. in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn confirmed these accusations.
September of 1989 a confidential file is created for Aviles and he is removed from the Boy Scouts. There are no further repercussions from there.
Finally, nearly 30 years after Edward Rodriguez’s resignation, Alexander Warwick (Troop 666) is alleged to have sexually abused several boys in 1990 at Camp Kunatah, a part of 10 Mile River Scout Camp along the Delaware River. 10 Mile River Scout Camp is still operational today, and advertises multiple “Eagle Weeks” in the summer of 2017 for scouts 13 and older to camp and work on their merit badges.
Incident reports filled out by scouts as young as 9 indicate that Warwick would force boys to sit on his lap, rubbed their bodies, and exposed the genitals of several boys. Warwick even called one of the scouts his “slave” and excessively hugged and touched the boy.
On July 23 of 1990, the President of the Manhattan Council sent Warwick a letter saying that his registration with the Boy Scouts of America was being denied, and that his $7.00 refund would be enclosed. There were no police reports filed.
Despite six men disclosing their sexual molestation of young boys to leaders of the Manhattan Council of Boy Scouts, zero police reports were filed over a span of four decades. This exposes a fundamental flaw in the Boy Scouts of America’s protection of children, and begs the question of what the Boy Scouts have done to change and how many children have been hurt by child molesters whom the Boy Scouts failed to report?
We hope that the answer is none, but we know that there are kids who suffered sexual abuse as a result of the Boy Scouts actions to protect its leaders and its brand.