'Perversion files' hit home for Rhode Island Scouts - ABC6 - Providence, RI and New Bedford, MA News, Weather

'Perversion files' hit home for Rhode Island Scouts

By Abbey Niezgoda

aniezgoda@abc6.com

It is not a secret anymore. More than 14,000 pages are out, detailing decades of suspected child abuse, and the effort by the Boy Scouts of America to cover it up.

The names of two men with ties to Rhode Island were not withheld for a reason. They were both later convicted of serious sexual crimes.

Rev. Edmund Micarelli, a former chaplain at Camp Yawgoog in Hopkinton, was accused of raping a scout on the reservation in the 1970's. He was removed then, but the organization never reported it to his parents or the police. The law later caught up with him, when he was involved in a clergy abuse scandal in Providence.

It is the same story for William Lazzareschi. He was never charged for suspected abuse as an assistant Scoutmaster in Providence, but was later convicted of sexual assault and child pornography.

A spokesman for the Scouts' Narragansett Council says what happened back then was tragic, but there is no reason to be concerned today. 

"The Scouts have learned from that experience," David Preston said. "They have protocols in place. They've got background checks."

However, advocates like Peg Langhammer of Day One in Providence say there is still work to be done.   

"Even though these institutions say we now have policies in place and these things will never happen again, we need to hold those institutions accountable," Langhammer said. "Any adult who is working with children, we need to know who those people are."

Letters are being sent out to every parent and volunteer in the Rhode Island Boy Scouts, explaining the files and the system in place to prevent the abuse from happening again.