secretfiles.jpg

Boxes full of "ineligible volunteer" files from the Boy Scouts of America sit next to a large placard with the Boy Scout oath. The files were made public in 2012. The Boy Scouts had a file on Calvin Malone that was destroyed, the plaintiff's attorneys say. (The Associated Press/)

(The Associated Press/)

Two Oregon men Tuesday filed multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of America and the local Cascade Pacific Council, alleging they were sexually abused by their former Scout leaders who were allowed to lead troops despite past abuses.

In the first one filed Tuesday, a Portland man seeks $5 million, alleging sexual abuse by a Scout leader who earlier had been kicked out of Scouting.

The Boy Scouts of America kept giving the leader, Calvin Malone, additional chances to work for the organization, allowing continued contact and sexual abuse of dozens of boys in Portland, California, Montana, Alabama and even Europe, the lawsuit alleges.

"The Boy Scouts kept letting him back in - without ever telling Scouts or parents about his history of abuse. These boys never stood a chance against Malone,'' said attorney Steve Crew, who represents the plaintiff.

Malone currently is being held in a special detention prison for sex offenders on McNeil Island near Seattle under a civil commitment. He was convicted in 1993 of first-degree rape of a child and two counts of first-degree child molestation in Snohomish County. Washington's attorney general filed a petition to have Malone deemed a sexually violent predator, essentially blocking his scheduled 2012 release.

The Boy Scouts of America called the behavior outlined in the allegations "abhorrent,'' adding that it "runs counter to everything for which the BSA stands.

"The Boy Scouts of America extends its deepest sympathies to any person who has been hurt by child sexual abuse. While we cannot discuss ongoing litigation, any instance of child victimization or abuse is intolerable and unacceptable,'' the organization said in a prepared statement.

The lawsuit accuses the Boy Scouts of America of letting Malone work as a leader in 1974 despite learning that he "had sexually abused at least one Scout in California in or around 1970'' and bought and provided alcohol to Scouts.

The plaintiff discovered in 2014 that the Boy Scouts of America had prior knowledge of Malone's abuses.

Malone was first kicked out of Scouting in California around 1970. Boy Scout documents, according to the plaintiff's lawyers, show that the organization had opened one of its secret files on Malone at the national headquarters. According to the agency's policies, the discovery should have made Malone "ineligible'' to be a Scout leader in the future, the plaintiff contends.

However, the Boy Scouts in 1974 rehired Malone as a Scout leader. At that time, the Boy Scouts sent a letter to regional Scouting headquarters in Oregon marked "personal and confidential.'' It alerted the local office to "be on the lookout for anything that might cause (them) to have concerned about (Malone),'' according to the plaintiff's lawyers.

Malone was allowed unfettered access to boys, took them on out-of-state camping trips in a so-called "Scout-mobile'' van and recruited hundreds of boys in the greater Portland area to join troops.

"Parents enrolled their boys in Scouts because they trusted the program and its leaders,'' said Law's co-counsel Peter Janci. "The Boy Scouts of America betrayed the trust of the parents and the children they swore to protect.''

The lawyers said the Boy Scouts destroyed the secret file they once created on Malone, yet letters written by Boy Scout officials survived and confirm the creation of the file.

Malone is accused of abusing the plaintiff, identified by the pseudonym C.M., between ages 12 and 14 from 1974 to 1976. The suit suggests the plaintiff is now in his mid-50s.

Oregon law allows victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue up until age 40 or within five years of when they realize the harm the abuse has caused. The suit, which alleges sexual battery, negligence, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress, says the plaintiff made the realization in 2014.

This is one of many recent cases involving the Boy Scouts of America's secret files.

A 2010 civil case was prosecuted by attorneys from O'Donnell Clark & Crew of Portland on the first public disclosure of the secret "perversion files" from 1965 to 1985.

In 2014, attorneys Crew and Janci filed a separate lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court on behalf of another Scout who alleged abuse by Malone. That case was settled, Janci said.

Later Tuesday, another former Boy Scout, using the pseudonym "Mark Doe,'' filed a separate lawsuit, alleging that his Scoutmaster, Clyde Brook, had repeatedly and severely sexually abused him in the mid- to late- 1960s.

The suit also alleges that the Boy Scouts were aware Brock posed a danger to children yet didn't remove him from Scouting.

A Boy Scouts file noted that Brock had been "called to task'' at least two times before for taking pictures of nude children, taking boys to his home and showing them pictures of nude children and adults. Ultimately, the Boy Scouts allowed Brock to "resign,'' in exchange for agreeing not to investigate alleged abuse involving 10 boys.

Doe's lawsuit, also filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, seeks $9 million in damages against the defendants. Attorneys Gilion C. Dumas and Ashley L. Vaughn filed the suit on his behalf.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian