James Kretschmer, 56, recounts the alleged abuse he suffered at the hands of his scout master when he was just 12-years-old (Picture: Abused In Scouts/Shutterstock)

A sexual abuse survivor has told how his pedophile scoutmaster held a treasure hunt where the ‘prize’ was being sexually abused by him.

James Kretschmer, 56, wrote of the abuse that began when he was just 12-years-old at a camping trip with his Boy Scout troop near Spokane, Washington.

He said he and the other scouts were given a ‘compass challenge game’ that presented them with instructions to find their ‘treasure.’

Kretschmer was the first to complete the challenge, but discovered that it led right back to his scout master’s tent.


He wrote: ‘He smiled and nodded when he saw me arrive first: There I was — the winner, his winner…Winning that game unfortunately changed my life forever.’

Kretschmer said the treasure hunt was just a plot by his scout master for sexual abuse (Picture: PA)

‘That night, the sky was black and the stars sparkled. I was sleeping soundly, alone in my little tent, but awoke to a strange feeling of hot breath on my neck and someone moving his hands all over my body, on the front of my pajamas.’



Kretschmer said he recognized the scout master’s voice in the dark tent as panic set in and he became frozen with fear.

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‘I tensed up and became angry with myself for winning the earlier challenge. If I had come in second place, maybe he wouldn’t be here right now,’ he said.

‘This was my fault for wanting to come in first place so badly. This was my punishment and I deserved it. Otherwise why would it be happening to me?’

He said the abuse continued on scouting trips for three more months before he finally told his parents.

Kretschmer said the abuse continued on different scouting trips before he finally told his parents after three months (File Picture: Shutterstock)

‘They listened, shifting in their seats. At first, their eyes stared at me in disbelief, but then they fell to the floor as I described those nights with my scoutmaster in the tent,’ he wrote.

Kretschmer said his father suggested it was time to quit Boy Scouts, then agreed with his stepmother that they should keep the information to themselves and never speak of it again.

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‘And, like the first night in the tent, I realized that if we all just closed our eyes, looked away and pretended like nothing was happening, maybe it would all go away and in the morning we would call it a bad dream,’ he wrote.

But the trauma did not go away. It infused itself in his everyday life and sabotaged his relationships as he walled himself off from those who loved him.

‘I joined the Marine Corps and barely kept in contact with my family…I also married and divorced multiple times.’

‘At the time, I told myself this was because I was so occupied with being a Marine, but I realize now that I was closing myself off and keeping other people away from me — especially the ones who wanted my love. I had no love or trust to give.’

Kretschmer has since shared his story with Abused In Scouting and is urging others to come forward with their stories of abuse (File Picture: Shutterstock)

Decades after the abuse, Kretschmer said he has finally been able to put the incident into perspective, and now knows that he was the victim, a survivor – not to be blamed for what happened to him.

‘As crazy as it sounds, it never occurred to me that it wasn’t my own fault. This is what it is like to be a child: You look to blame yourself and protect the adults around you.’

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‘It took me many decades to come to terms with the fact that the man in my tent — the pedophile breathing on my neck — is the guilty one. Shame on him for hurting that little boy.’



Now Kretschmer is urging victims of sexual abuse to come forward.

He has gotten support by connecting with other alleged victims through Abused In Scouting, an organization that compiles stories of sex abuse in the Boy Scouts and offers legal support for victims.

He has since become an advocate and said: ‘I urge everyone who has been a victim to become a survivor, just as I have.

‘Speak up and tell people what happened. The trauma I suffered at the hands of a scoutmaster will always be with me.

‘But only by coming forward can reform be possible.’