Man In Boy Scout Sex Files Exposed: Part 2
By: Aaron Cheslock
Updated: October 31, 2012
In Part 1, we introduced you to a Boy Scout Troop Leader in Tyrone who says he knew Timothy Bagshaw. Bagshaw was a former cop and Scoutmaster charged with child sex abuse, and was listed in the Boy Scouts "Perversion Files". We have a correction to part 1 of this story... Bagshaw wasn't indicted on 13 counts related to sexually abusing a child, he was indicted on 30.
In 1984, at Seven Mountain Boy's Camp in Centre County, Timothy Bagshaw was charged with Sexually Abusing at least two boys, one only 13 years old. The Court Affidavit says Bagshaw lured boys into his tent, tied it shut from the inside with a boot lace and sexually molested them.
Bagshaw was listed in the Boy Scout's "Perversion Files", and scouts like Will Sessaman, don't know how to react.
"Leaders doing something like that to those kids, sexual abuse, that's just not right for these young kids..."
As Cummins Mcnitt, who's been involved in Boy Scouts for five decades, reads through the files, he notices Bagshaw's name, and says he was in the same council as Bagshaw, we asked if he could speak to him now, what would he say?
"Tim, I hope you've gotten your life together and I hope things are better for you and I hope you can understand what you did to those kids."
Mcnitt says when that case went public, it was an eye opener of a serious problem.
"As unfortunate as it was for those kids that were abused, it really taught a lot of us a lot of lessons, and we got better..."
Cases like Bagshaw's shaped many of the current rules for scouts and Scoutmasters. Some of those rules include:
- Every leader has to go through a criminal background check
- All Scouts and Scoutmasters get yearly training
- Every Boy Scout activity requires two adults, so there's no one-on-one conduct
While many in scouting think the past is the past, and the system's fixed, Scoutmaster's like Tyrone's Michael Yeaton, are left apologizing for crimes committed by their predecessors, like Timothy Bagshaw.
"I'm sorry that they've been traumatized, and I just, there's no words, I can't apologize enough..."
We also spoke to Mike Surbaugh, a Scout exec from the Laurel Highlands Council, he says that they'll continue to evolve and improve their methods of keeping kids safe, noting that "...child protection is everyone's job..." As for Bagshaw, he was sentenced to 1-3 years in prison, he served just one day, and got three years probation. His where-abouts are unknown. Bagshaw's story is just one of more than 80 in Pennsylvania, one of more than
1,800 in the country, from 1971 to 1991.
