By: Tyler Aliperto
New Mexico’s Troop 287 and the Boy Scouts of America could be held responsible for the actions of an alleged child molester who they allowed to quietly leave their organization without notifying local police.
Jerry Tully (sometimes spelled Tulley) was undesirably discharged from the United States army, where he had been positioned at the Sandia Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, sometime during 1963. The reason given for Tully’s dishonorable discharge: “committing an immoral sex act on another person, a Boy Scout.” At the time, Tully was a registered Scout Master for Troop 287, which falls under the Kit Carson Council in New Mexico.
Following his discharge from the U.S. army, Confidential Record Sheets obtained through the LA Time’s Perversion Files demonstrate that the Boy Scouts of America went through the process of naming Tully an “ineligible volunteer” for their organization. While it is applauded that the Boy Scouts organization made sure Tully would no longer work near their scouts, many should condemn the organization for failing to report Tully’s alleged “immoral sex act,” on one of their own boy scouts nonetheless, to their local police department.
One newspaper article, dated March 23, 1964 (5 months after the Boy Scouts’ Confidential Record Sheets were filed), perfectly illustrates why Troop 287 and the Boy Scouts of America had a responsibility to report Tully to law officials. The seemingly insignificant article, titled “Life Saving Classes Start at ‘Y’ April 6” was published to the Albuquerque Journal, and read like an advertisement for the “junior life saving classes” that would be facilitated at the local YMCA.
(Source: Albuquerque Journal, 03/23/1964)
Despite its insignificant appearance, the conclusion of the article illustrates the obvious lack of attention that Troop 287 and the Boy Scouts of America gave to Jerry Tully after removing him from their organization. Following standard information on the “junior life saving classes,” which required a minimum age of only 12 years old, the newspaper article stated for anyone interested to “contact Jerry Tulley [sic] at the Central branch ‘Y,’…”
This is absolutely abominable. It is possible that Tully would not have been arrested, nor charged, for his alleged sex crimes with an underage Boy Scout, had Troop 287 and the Boy Scouts of America told law officials. However, if the Boy Scouts of America had gone through the proper steps, and reported Tully to the proper authorities, there is little doubt that he would not have been working with children as young as 12 years old, only a short 5 months later.
Troop 287’s leaders, the Kit Carson Council, and the Boy Scouts of America all failed to protect New Mexico’s youth by failing to report Jerry Tully to local authorities.
About the Author: Tyler Aliperto is a Research and Social Media Advocate with the Noaker Law Firm LLC and a Digital Communications and Journalism major at St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota.