The Boys Scouts of America Have a “Pedophile Epidemic,” According to a New Lawsuit

There is a “pedophilia epidemic” within the Boy Scouts, as alleged in a new lawsuit filed on Monday in Philadelphia.

According to NBC, the legal team from the group Abused in Scouting has identified 350 “previously unknown scoutmasters and volunteers” who preyed on scouts, but their names were never released to law enforcement or placed in the Boy Scouts of America’s internal database (which features “ineligible volunteer files” and dates back to the 1920s). The lawsuit emanated from a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania man who claims he was assaulted “hundreds” of times in the 1970s.

And the number could be higher. “We know that when a pedophile abuses a victim, it’s not just one,” said Abused in Scouting attorney Stewart Eisenberg.

In response, the BSA says it is manually reviewing the information they were sent by Abused in Scouting. In an emailed response to NBC, the organization also claims to have reported 120 claims to law enforcement “for all cases in which enough information was provided to identify the correct agency.” The BSA has not yet returned comment on whether Paul Antosh, 62, one of the alleged attackers named in the current lawsuit, was still involved in scouting.

After a recent spate of lawsuits and rising legal costs, the nonprofit BSA has recently considered filing for bankruptcy.

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