He made them swim naked as he took photos. And at night, he fondled them in their sleeping bags.
When the Boy Scouts of America learned of the scoutmaster's activities in 1978, they ejected him from the organization -- but never contacted police or the parents of those boys in Clawson's Troop 1604.
A total of 52 men, including the Clawson scoutmaster, were accused of sexually assaulting Michigan Scouts between 1960 and 1985, according to documents newly released by the Boy Scouts of America and reviewed by the Free Press.
The files are part of a 2010 lawsuit filed by an Oregon man who was repeatedly assaulted by his scoutmaster. A jury awarded him $18.5 million.
The Michigan cases reflect what happened thousands of times nationwide during those years, records show. Many of the men were professionals -- clergy, teachers, certified counselors and laborers -- and most were listed as having religious affiliations.
They were scoutmasters, assistant scoutmasters, coaches of horseback riding or marksmanship and adult volunteers.
Scouting officials often tried to keep the assaults quiet and failed to notify police and parents, even in cases where the men admitted to the abuse. In some cases, officials appeared sympathetic to those accused, suggesting therapy rather than prosecution.
The release last month of the "perversion files," as they were called by scouting officials, has prompted nationwide scrutiny into one of the oldest youth organizations in the country.
Michigan has an estimated 78,000 Scouts, with 25,000 Scouts in 762 troops in the tri-county area.
The files were kept by the national Boy Scout headquarters as a kind of blacklist to flag any predator who might try to re-register as a scoutmaster or volunteer.
But in Michigan, like other states, some were able to rejoin using aliases or altered birthdates. And some who were kicked out, but not prosecuted, went on to rape or molest other children, the files show.
"It's painful," said Richard Fisher, director of the Boy Scouts of America Great Lakes Council, which oversees troops in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. "We have, in the past, misstepped and unfortunately, children were hurt. One case of abuse is one case too many, and our No. 1 goal is to protect children."
Fisher said the organization continues to keep track of suspected predators using an electronic database and also has become more vigilant in recent years at preventing pedophiles from coming in contact with Scouts.
Applicants are screened nationwide for criminal backgrounds, references are required and scouting officials take assault allegations seriously, he said.
"Any documentation of suspected assault gets forwarded immediately to the local child protective agency," he said.
George Spice, a Boy Scout executive in the 1980s for the Clinton Valley Council -- which mainly served Oakland and Macomb counties -- said sex abuse allegations have been handled differently in the past 25 years.
Years ago, Boy Scout officials gathered information from accusers and then reported suspected wrongdoing to a troop's sponsoring organization -- be it a church or club -- and sometimes notified local authorities, Spice said. Now, abuse allegations are immediately reported to police.
"It was dealt with in the way that it was dealt with at the time," Spice said of handling allegations decades ago. "Dealing with those situations has evolved over the years, and it's just gotten more involved and more detailed and ... a much better system."
He said perpetrators sometimes flew under the radar likely because of their positions in the community.
"It was kind of difficult for people in a small community to believe that Mr. Brown would be that kind of guy," said Spice, who began a nearly 40-year scouting career in 1960 and has handled abuse cases. "After all, he's our local community leader, he's a volunteer firefighter, he's a Scout leader. To believe that he could do something like that, yeah, I think there was some innocence in our thinking."
Keeping it quiet
The attacks reverberate years later.
One boy from the Clawson troop who was assaulted by the scoutmaster remembers a manipulator who struck on camping trips.
"This is how it worked: We were out there, exploring life, and if you did something wrong, like you got caught playing with matches, he'd make you feel guilty, and then it would start," the former Boy Scout, now 46, told the Free Press.
One boy eventually told his parents, who contacted officials. The news reached other parents.
The parents of three Scouts wrote to the local Boy Scouts council, saying they had believed in the organization and entrusted their sons to the scoutmaster.
As a result of the assaults, their sons were seeing a psychiatrist "because of their humiliation and guilt feelings. Therefore, we ask that this investigation be kept confidential and discreet."
Scouting officials did not contact police, and the Clawson scoutmaster was never charged. The Free Press is not naming him because charges weren't filed.
After being dismissed from the Boy Scouts of America, the man attempted to join the Boy Scouts of Canada but was rejected. He died in 1994.
The victim who spoke to the Free Press said his parents never learned about the assaults -- he didn't tell them because the scoutmaster made him feel ashamed. He asked that his name not be used to spare them pain.
"After what he did, I ended up thinking I was a bad boy," the victim said. "That son of a bitch."
Tents and homes
The files reveal that children were preyed on during scouting outings, in tents and cabins while camping, in troop leaders' homes and while trying to earn merit badges.
- A teacher from Wyandotte who was directing Boy Scouts at Camp Tamarack was accused in 1971 of fondling counselors in training, who were minors, while they slept in their bunks.
While interviewing Scouts, an official said the matter should be kept quiet from others at the camp.
The official told one Scout: "You are aware that things like this can ruin a man, are you?"
and said the victim could be in "deep trouble" if he was lying. - A Boy Scouts rifle range instructor from Owosso was accused of fondling a 13-year-old Scout trying to earn his marksmanship merit badge in 1966.
In a letter, the camp director said he was initially in disbelief and sent the boy back to the range. The director hid in the woods and saw the instructor "rub the boy's privates."
The director interrupted, talked to the instructor about "unrelated things" and walked away. He wrote that he again hid and watched the man fondle the boy a second time.
The instructor was quietly discharged, but it appears police weren't contacted. When confronted, the instructor told officials, "I just can't help myself," according to records. - A Flint man had a history of assaulting boys when he raped a 12-year-old in 1977. Robert Luther Hatcher Jr. -- who also went by the name Robert Johns -- was convicted in 1977 and sentenced to 10-15 years in prison.
Records show he had a conviction for a similar crime and was wanted in Tennessee on sexual assault and sodomy charges when he was hired as a paraprofessional by the Tall Pine Council in Lapeer. - A scoutmaster who worked as a hospital orderly was accused in 1962 of molesting a Scout trying to earn his first-aid merit badge.
In a written statement, the boy -- whose age is not clear -- said he and others were at the scoutmaster's home working on their badges when the scoutmaster passed him notes asking him to come back later.
The boy said his mother allowed it, and the scoutmaster fondled him. The scoutmaster resigned, but it doesn't appear police were notified.
When confronted, scoutmasters were sometimes allowed to resign and cite only "personal reasons" in letters in their files.
Former Bellaire troop scoutmaster Joseph John Bornschein, who was convicted of molesting two boys, said in a 1982 resignation letter that he was leaving because of "severe reactive hypoglycemia" causing "associated chronic brain dysfunction."
"When in the future I am again able to function at my normal high level of enthusiasm, I may request reinstatement," he wrote.
Bornschein, 55, of Traverse City told the Free Press he served prison time after being convicted in 1982 and later in the mid-1980s for sexually assaulting boys. He said one was a former Scout of his, but the abuse did not occur while the boy was in his troop.
"It was a long, long time ago," Bornschein said.
Scouting officials sometimes urged accused scoutmasters to seek legal help. When a 22-year-old scoutmaster forced oral sex on several Scouts at a rural horse camp in 1960, officials confronted him.
He admitted the assaults, and officials drove him to a nearby town to hitch a ride.
"We recommended that he resign his position immediately and that he go to his summer home where his mother is now staying," the written report said. "We also advised him to seek medical and any legal help now."
The officials continued, "In all fairness I should say that he did a better than average job as Field Sports director and a good job of managing the farm house staff as far as keeping the place neat and clean."
Although the abuse allegations have shed a negative light on the organization, Spice said scouting plays an important role in society, from youth development to character building.
"I think that we're going to weather this storm," he said. "We're still a great organization."
Staff Writer Ann Zaniewski contributed to this report.
More Details: Wayne Co. case
The Free Press found one civil case in Wayne County that doesn't show up in the Boy Scout "perversion" files.
The lawsuit was against the Boy Scouts of America, officials from the Detroit Area Council, the abuse suspect and his wife. In it, the father of a Scout alleges his son was fondled and inappropriately touched by a Scout leader over four months in 1984.
A judge ruled in favor of the victim's father, awarding $10,000 against the Boy Scouts of America and leaders from the Detroit Area Council.
When contacted, the former Boy Scout declined to talk to the Free Press.
Close to home
The 14,500 pages of secret "perversion files" released last month by the Boy Scouts of America, under an order of the Oregon Supreme Court, show that between 1960 and 1985, 52 Michigan men were accused of sexually assaulting Boy Scouts.
Of those, 22 were living in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties at the time of the assaults.
Many of the men were professionals, working as teachers, laborers, clergy or in the medical field. Most are listed in their files as having religious affiliations.
Nationwide, the records - formally called the Ineligible Volunteer Files - contain reports of alleged child molestation by more than 1,200 scoutmasters and other adult volunteers.
The crimes
Michigan laws spell out four degrees of criminal sexual conduct (CSC). Some of the former scoutmasters and volunteers listed in the "perversion" files were eventually charged with and convicted of such crimes.
- First-degree CSC: Penetration and additional aggravating circumstances, which can include the use of a weapon, kidnapping or injury beyond the rape. If a victim is younger than 13 and is penetrated, an offender can be charged with this crime.
- Second-degree CSC: Touching and aggravating circumstances, such as the use of a weapon or additional injury.
- Third-degree CSC: Penetration without consent, but no aggravating circumstances.
- Fourth-degree CSC: Touching without consent.
For the 'old school' treatment would have the community cut off their 'third leg' and associated appendages.