Teens victimized in police Explorers program

CNN ^ | 25 June 2003

[Lorianne]

At least a dozen teenagers assigned to work with police departments as part of the Boy Scouts' Law Enforcement Explorers program have allegedly been sexually abused by officers during the past year. In the past five years, such molestations number at least 25, according to criminologists' research being released Wednesday.

[AntiGuv]

The rest of the article:

Sponsors have promised reforms to the program, which attracts tens of thousands of teens annually.

Among recent cases:

• The East Ridge, Tennessee, police department suspended its Explorer program after Officer Keith Maynard, 31, was charged with two counts of statutory rape and two counts of aggravated child molestation, accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl in the program. He is awaiting trial.

• In Haltom City, Texas, former police officer John Ross Ewing, 28, was indicted by a grand jury in March on charges that he sexually assaulted two male Explorer scouts, ages 15 and 16, at his apartment.

• In San Bernardino, California, Freddie Lee Johnson, 34, pleaded guilty in April to having sex with a 16-year-old girl on a scout-related camping trip. According to court records, the girl woke up in her tent and found the officer on top of her. He was sentenced to 60 weekends in jail.

"I was scared that if I said anything, I would get into trouble and I would have to leave the sheriff's department," the victim said in a statement at the sentencing hearing.

Her mother added: "We trusted him. How could we not? He was a law-enforcement officer. He was our daughter's (Explorer) adviser. He was invited to our daughter's graduation dinner at our home. ... He shook our hands, gave me hugs, and all of the time, he was betraying our trust."

Law Enforcement Explorers is a co-ed program affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. The broader scouts Exploring program also places 14- to 20-year-olds with firefighters, medical providers, lawyers and others to learn about those careers.

In 2002, about 43,000 Explorers were assigned to police and sheriff's departments around the United States.

Boy Scouts of America officials said they were surprised and concerned to learn of the incidents.

"One child, 12 children, it's always one too many," said Boy Scouts of America national spokesman Gregg Shields.

"I really don't understand why this is happening," said John Anthony, executive director of the Learning For Life program, which oversees Explorers.

Anthony's office is reinforcing youth protection guidelines with all law enforcement Explorer programs and requiring supervisors to go through training about how to protect participants from abuse.

The extent of the abuse is detailed in research that will be released Wednesday by University of Nebraska criminal justice professor Samuel Walker and his colleague Dawn Irlbeck, who study police sexual abuse of women.

Almost half of the reported teenage victims of police sexual abuse in the past decade were enrolled in police Explorer programs, they found, with the rest abused during arrests, traffic stops and in other situations.

"When you have repeated incidents across the country, a new one every month, that's a real problem," Walker said.

Even where abuse is not alleged, critics have faulted some programs for endangering teens.

Explorers have been used on undercover pornography stings in which they enter adult bookstores and purchase materials banned for their age group. In other cases, scouting officials said, they have been allowed to drive marked patrol cars, which could expose them to harm from gang members and drug dealers.

"Stings are prohibited and always have been prohibited," said Shields, the Boy Scouts spokesman. "These are juveniles and it's just not proper."

The Explorer program's own written guidelines discourage the practice of allowing teens to drive patrol cars, noting, "This is potentially putting inexperienced (immature) youth in harm's way."

Under those guidelines, unsupervised, one-on-one contact between Explorers and officers is banned, with one exception -- during certified law enforcement ride-alongs. But this is when many of the reported cases of abuse have taken place, the research found.

"I think it's a program that allows inappropriate contact between the officers and the kids without the proper supervision," said attorney Todd Walburg, who represents a former Explorer alleging in a lawsuit that David Kalish, who ran for Los Angeles police chief last year, sexually abused him while in the program during the 1970s. Kalish, 49, has been suspended as deputy chief, pending grand jury action.

But others emphasize the benefits of the program.

Sgt. Rick Martinez of the Anaheim, California, police said he was inspired by his experiences as Explorer 30 years ago to join the force.

Abuse is "a rare and unfortunate instance," he said. "But keep in mind there are thousands of kids who go through this program without abuse, exposing them to career options and teaching them to help their communities."

Even so, Martinez is all too aware that problems can happen.

He resumed his position as the program's adviser last year after the former leader, 31-year-old officer Jason David Rosewarne, was charged with having sex with a 17-year-old female Explorer.

Rosewarne, who resigned, was charged October 25 with one felony count of oral copulation with a minor.

But the married father of two may never go to trial. Rosewarne, who was born in Britain and has dual citizenship, recently moved with his family to the London area. Prosecutors initially said they would seek extradition, and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest. But because the age of consent is 16 in Britain, he will not be returned to the United States.

Even when officers are convicted in this country, sentences are often light, records show.

For example, in March, a judge reduced charges against former Woodlake, Calif., police officer Eric Martinez from three felony charges to a misdemeanor after the officer, in a plea deal, admitted he had sex with a 17-year-old girl in the Explorer program. He was ordered to perform community service and was placed on probation.

[bedolido]

We had this happen here in Idaho a few months ago. The policeman is being prosecuted for rape.

[steve8714]

Are you sure they weren't priests?

[lelio]

But the married father of two may never go to trial. Rosewarne, who was born in Britain and has dual citizenship, recently moved with his family to the London area. Prosecutors initially said they would seek extradition, and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest. But because the age of consent is 16 in Britain, he will not be returned to the United States.

Isn't that special?

[MudPuppy]

very sad. I was in the Sea Explorers as a teen. Kept me out of lot of trouble. My Ship was run by a married couple - I still keep in contact with them.

My experience with the Explorers led me to volunteer with the Young Marines with my own kids. Similar but different programs :)

[RonF]

FYI:

The BSA's programs can be broadly divided up into two parts: the "traditional" program (Cub Scouts, Boy Scout, Venturers, Sea Scouts), who wear uniforms and who are subject to the membership requirements that have been much-litigated lately; and Learning for Life, where the standards are less stringent (for example, members can be atheist or homosexual). The former has about 4 million members, and the latter about 2 million.

Explorers is a part of the latter. It used to be part of the traditional program, but got split into Venturers (who remained "traditional") and Explorers after some suits in Chicago that attacked the Chicago FD and PD's support of law-enforcement and EMT-type Posts; public support of organizations that ban atheists and homosexuals was bad. So high-adventure Posts became Venturer Crews, and career-oriented Posts stayed Posts and joined LFL. Apparently standards are not being maintained in how these Posts are being run. National is going to have to work on this.

[Tax-chick]

I really don't understand why this is happening,"

Seems obvious enough - mixing adult men, many single, with teenage girls with inadequate supervision. The Scouts have rules, but if people don't follow them, this is what you get.

[scripter]

Seems obvious enough - mixing adult men, many single, with teenage girls with inadequate supervision. The Scouts have rules, but if people don't follow them, this is what you get.

Not just adult men with teenage girls, but adult men with teenage boys. From the article:

In Haltom City, Texas, former police officer John Ross Ewing, 28, was indicted by a grand jury in March on charges that he sexually assaulted two male Explorer scouts, ages 15 and 16, at his apartment.

Yet another reason to keep gays out of the Boy Scouts.

[Tax-chick]

Yet another reason to keep gays out of the Boy Scouts.

I saw that, but most of these incidents involved girls. Sometimes it seems that there's so much emphasis on men/boys right now, that people are overlooking the much more prevalent risks of mixing adult men and teenage girls.

For the record, I'm against co-ed Scouting, too! Even though there's no "crime" if everyone's a legal minor, sexual relationships should have no place in Scouting.

[Montfort]

"• In San Bernardino, California, Freddie Lee Johnson, 34, pleaded guilty in April to having sex with a 16-year-old girl on a scout-related camping trip. According to court records, the girl woke up in her tent and found the officer on top of her. He was sentenced to 60 weekends in jail."

Perhaps she was of the age of consent and there was some evidence of consent. Otherwise, this sentence seems laughably lenient.

This is precisely why one does not send kids off on camping trips with people who might view them as sexually attractive. That is why we do not (or should not)send girls off on camping trips with men, or boys with gay men (or girls with lesbians, although I would imagine this happens a lot and few people even think about it).

I don't care that an individual man or woman may be trustworthy or morally upright. It is wrong to create these morally hazardous situations.

[Richard Kimball]

Her mother added: "We trusted him. How could we not? He was a law-enforcement officer. He was our daughter's (Explorer) adviser. He was invited to our daughter's graduation dinner at our home. ... He shook our hands, gave me hugs, and all of the time, he was betraying our trust."

Attention all parents!!!! DO NOT allow an adult man to be alone with your teenage daughter unless you want him to have sex with her. GOT IT? Adult men SHOULD NOT be alone with teenage girls. EVER. GOT IT? After girls go through puberty, they are sexually attractive to men. Men WILL try to have sex with them. GOT IT? Fourteen, fifteen and sixteen year old girls ARE sexually attractive to adult men. GOT IT? Adult men who want to have sex with these girls will try to get into situations where they will be alone with them. Some of these techniques include working with church youth, big brothers/big sisters, and explorer groups.

Oh, and one last thing. Most police officers are good people, but some people enter into police work for the sexual dominance aspect of police work, and yes, it is there. A LOT of cops engage in vice activity that would get them busted if they weren't cops, probably more than in the general public.

[Tax-chick]

It is wrong to create these morally hazardous situations.

Exactly! As the post after yours makes clear, these parents were sadly naive.

Unfortunately, you can't be completely sure about ANYONE, not even family, but at least take the obvious precautions.

[Lorianne]

Isn't this equivalent to saying all men are rapists?

[You Dirty Rats]

I'm not sure it's fair to single out Scouting. After all, there are religious leaders, teachers, etc. who also take advantage. Unless we want to end field trips, out-of-town sports contests, religious retreats & concerts, etc. I think that, sadly, there will be some of these incidents, as some adults are simply not responsible, and you can't always tell who is not ahead of time.

[Lorianne]

Perhaps she was of the age of consent and there was some evidence of consent.

CA has one of the highest AOC's in the nation: 18. This is precisely why one does not send kids off on camping trips with people who might view them as sexually attractive.

How do you know who will find your kid sexually attractive?

That is why we do not (or should not)send girls off on camping trips with men, or boys with gay men (or girls with lesbians...

But how do you know? These cops were not known as gay men. Married men and women are not always what they seem. Also, very few straight people would harm children. Isn't it tantamount to saying all men are rapists to suggest that men and girls should not be together. What about teenage girls' fathers, grandfather, uncles, brothers? Should we not allow them to be alone with a girl?

[Lorianne]

Was this police officer known to be gay?

[Richard Kimball]

Lorianne, I've read some of your posts, and have concluded that you either absolutely have no clue about the male sexual drive, or play men like a banjo.

What I'm saying is that even with a man who tries to control himself, a hardon will take him places he wouldn't go with two loaded .45's. And a lot of men don't try to control themselves.

[Lorianne]

Well, if I am misinformed about men, and you are correct about the lack of self control men have, then why do we have male police officers? Why give people with that much lack of self control weapons?

Why do we have people lacking self control in any position of authority?

In fact, why are males even allowed out after dark?

Yo portray males very unflatteringly Richard. But if you happen to be right, I advocate a lot of social and law changes.

[drhogan]

it may be, but as the father of 3 teenage girls, i would second the advice. (i have also occasionally been a little suspicious of an adult woman's interest in one of my daughters, but women don't seem quite as dangerous.)