Judge identifies four more police officers in Louisville Explorer Scout suits

A federal judge disclosed Wednesday the names of four additional police officers who are defendants in lawsuits filed by former Explorer Scouts who say they were sexually abused by Louisville cops in the program.

The newly identified defendants are accused of negligent training and supervision rather than sexual misconduct.

U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings identified Matthew Gelhausen, Paul Brandon Paris, Julie Schmidt and Casey Scott as additional defendants in a 15-page ruling that ordered five lawsuits unsealed. The first two officers work for Louisville Metro Police Department while the third, a former Explorer, is an officer on the Richmond police force.

Schmidt, a former adviser in the program, has since retired from the LMPD.

Previously: Louisville Metro Council grills attorney on review of Explorer sex investigation

Ordering the suits opened, Jennings said neither the plaintiffs nor the defense had made the required showing to overcome the “strong presumption in favor of public access to federal court records.”

The order doesn't take affect for 15 days, however, so the suits were not immediately available for inspection and the precise allegations against the additional defendants could not be determined.

Two suits naming former officers Brandon Wood and Kenneth Betts already had been unsealed.

Jennings granted the plaintiffs’ motions to proceed under pseudonyms in all seven lawsuits.

Besides alleging that they were sexually abused, the seven plaintiffs claim that the city and police department covered up the wrongdoing. The defendants have denied the allegations.

More: Here are key findings of a report on LMPD's Explorer sex abuse scandal

In an interview in March 2017, former Scout Alexis Harper Stovall told the Courier Journal that Gelhausen, a leader in the program, admonished Wood for an incident in which he got drunk on a trip in Denver and then leaned on some male Scouts and tried to rest his head on their shoulders while they were all passengers in a vehicle.

Gelhausen had said previously that he couldn't talk about the matter because it was under investigation.

The Courier Journal reported in October 2017 that Schmidt was an adviser to the program and later was one of three officers in the Public Integrity Unit who interviewed a victim in 2013 but failed to record or thoroughly document the interview.

Scott, a former Explorer, told Louisville investigators he had heard about Betts having an inappropriate sexual encounter with an Explorer, according to a October 2017 Courier Journal article.

One of the suits names officer Bradley Schuhmann while the rest name former officers Betts and Wood and the city, which is accused of negligent hiring and training. The Boy Scouts of America and its Lincoln Heritage Council also are named as defendants in all seven cases.

Schuhmann is on administrative leave while Betts was allowed to resign from the department in 2014 and Wood was fired in 2016, when he and Betts were both indicted. Betts was charged with two counts of sodomy and Wood with seven counts of sexual abuse. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Related: Scouts detail encounters with two cops accused in Explorer sex abuse scandal

The first lawsuit was filed by a former Scout identified as N.C., who claimed he was sexually abused by Betts and Wood between 2011 and 2013.

In the other suit previously unsealed in March, a plaintiff identified as E.B. alleged he was sexually assaulted, stalked and harassed by Betts, who also allegedly requested that he "transmit or accept" nude photographs. The suit also names Curtis Flaherty, the former head of the Explorer program, as responsible for covering up the allegations.

The suits all were initially filed in Jefferson Circuit Court.

The judge’s order came on the same day Louisville Metro Council members received a second – and likely final – presentation on a special review about how Louisville police have handled the scandal.

Lexington attorney Kerry Harvey, who compiled the 90-page report, concluded that investigators with the department’s Public Integrity Unit made significant errors in how they dealt with accusations that teens were sexually abused and harassed in the program.

But it said there was no evidence that senior police commanders, including Chief Steve Conrad, worked to cover up any allegations of misconduct.

October 2017: Scouts detail encounters with two cops accused in Explorer sex abuse scandal

Harvey, a former federal prosecutor, told the council’s Public Safety Committee on Wednesday that his report is likely to be used by the former Scouts and their attorney in the civil cases against the city.

"I think some of what we've done would make it more difficult to defend Louisville Metro government," he said.

The council voted to reveal more information after the report’s initial release, which showed that Louisville police knew of an incident involving a Scout, whose name is blacked out, and two females that took place in 2002.

Sources who have seen an unredacted version of the report told the Courier Journal that the former Scout whose name was blacked out is Betts.

Harvey declined to comment when asked by a reporter about what Louisville police did after the 2002 allegation surfaced.

Timeline: How the Louisville Metro Police sex abuse scandal unfolded

He told council members that most of the police officers and Scouts who participated in the program behaved appropriately, but there were ongoing and disturbing allegations of inappropriate behavior over several years by a "smaller nucleus of people" within the program.

"From what we've seen this was certainly far from an isolated incident," Harvey said.

The committee peppered Harvey with several questions about his review, which cost roughly $140,000. Some committee members said the report was incomplete and that the council may need to use its subpoena powers to learn more information.

Who's who

Steve Conrad: Chief of Police of the Louisville Metro Police Department since 2012

Kerry Harvey: Former U.S. attorney hired in March 2017 by Mayor Greg Fischer to investigate the handling of sex abuse claims in the police department's Explorer program and produce a report on his findings. Harvey was charged with creating a timeline of the case, outlining who knew what information, when they knew it and what they did or did not do with the information.

Kenneth Betts: One of two former LMPD officers accused criminally and civilly with the sexual abuse of youth in the Explorer program. He was under internal investigation in 2013-2014 regarding possible "improper contact" with an Explorer, but when he left the department in 2014, Conrad closed the internal administrative investigation. Betts has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sodomy, one of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.

Brandon Wood: One of two former LMPD officers accused criminally and civilly with the sexual abuse of youth in the Explorer program. The department launched an internal criminal investigation to Wood in October 2016. He was criminally charged in April 2017 and then fired. Wood has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of sexual abuse, each punishable by up to five years in prison.

Curtis Flaherty: A former LMPD major accused in civil lawsuits of helping to cover up alleged sexual abuse and harassment of youth by officers in the Explorer program. Flaherty, who oversaw the Explorer program for years and retired from the department in 2017, has denied any wrongdoing.

Greg Fischer: Fischer said he learned of an investigation into Wood in October 2016. In March 2017, after the Courier Journal reported details from the first civil lawsuit filed in the scandal, Fischer suspended the Explorer program and shortly after hired Harvey.

Ellen Hesen: Deputy mayor of Louisville who said she was briefed by Conrad in 2013 about the internal investigation into Betts.

Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/andreww. Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475 or pbailey@courier-journal.com