Thousands of pages of documents reveal a history of child sexual abuse, covered up by the Boy Scouts of America. The so-called "perversion files" - made public for the first time Thursday.
The more than 14,000 pages of documents released date back to the 1960s. The complaints range from inappropriate conduct to molestation and identify more than a thousand Scout and leaders volunteers nationwide.
After the documents were released, the Boy Scouts of America released a statement saying quote: "Nothing is more important than the safety of our Scouts."
The allegations hit close to home, too. According to the L.A. Times, since the 1990s, there have been 16 reported cases of abuse in our region, seven of them right here in Charlotte.
That didn't sit well with local parents. Ian Matchett, of Charlotte said it has him on alert.
"And it does make me feel unfortunately like I don't want to trust somebody like the boy scouts," he admitted. "I was a Boy Scout and I loved it. But at this point and this day and age, it's just too scary."
Matchett said it makes parents think twice no matter what activities their child is involved in.
"Anytime that you have a situation where you're trusting someone with your kids and then all of sudden you can't trust them anymore, it really raises issues," he said. "Too many times now we see with church, daycares with anything like that, the truest is gone and that's scary as a parent."
Copyright 2012 WBTV. All rights reserved.
