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Files may document decades of Boy Scout sexual abuse

Posted at 6:50 PM, Oct 12, 2012
and last updated 2012-10-12 18:50:30-04

(WTVR) - Many people's formative years were shaped by the positive experiences they had in The Boy Scouts. However, the organization may have been hiding evidence of sexual abuse for years.

Files have been published online that document hundreds, if not thousands of victims of more than 1900 abusive boy scout masters. They are files the scouts organization has been fighting for years to keep secret. Now, the group is being accused of a century long cover-up of information that police and victims organizations could have benefited from.

Boy Scout supporters say the files were created to identify suspected child molesters and get them out of scouting.

Victims say that the files protect the organization and not those harmed.

Next week, 20,000 more pages from these files will be posted online as a response to a court order from Oregon.