Mankato Boy Scouts group agrees to pay $784,000 to victim abuse fund

Dec. 19—MANKATO — A group representing Boy Scouts of America councils in 15 southern Minnesota counties has agreed to pay nearly $784,000 to a fund for sexual abuse victims, a scout executive said.

The money is part of more than $800 million in cash and property that the national organization and its roughly 250 local councils will contribute to victims if a planned bankruptcy agreement is reached. In return, the local councils and national organization would be released from further liability for sexual abuse claims.

The Boy Scouts national organization sought bankruptcy in February 2020 in the face of hundreds of individual lawsuits from men who say they were abused as children. Now more than 82,000 sexual abuse claims have been filed against the group.

The claimants have until Dec. 28 to vote on the bankruptcy plan. Attorneys with an ad hoc group called the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice are urging victims to vote yes, saying it's "the biggest possible compensation fund for survivors" and that a no vote leaves no fund.

Twin Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America is headquartered in Mankato and represents more than 1,000 kids and about 550 adults. Local councils do not face ongoing litigation, Scout Council Executive Ray Brauer said.

But more than 50 claims filed in the national bankruptcy case came from the 15 southern Minnesota counties represented by Twin Valley.

Brauer said a committee viewed the finances and the number of potential abuse claims of each council in its 15-county region to determine an equitable amount for each to pay.

The situation and the amount of the payment are "unprecedented," he said.

The funding will come from money it made in the early 2000s upon selling conservation easements — legal limits on land use that protect an area — on Cuyuna Scout Camp property near Crosslake. Since then the proceeds have grown as long-term investments.

He expects the payment to be made at the end of January. The lost investment income may postpone special projects and defer maintenance at locally run Scout camps, he said.

A Los Angeles Times database found that seven Boy Scouts workers in the south-central region were expelled from the organization on suspicion of sexual abuse from 1992 to 2002. The years, cities and troop numbers are as follows:

—2002, Mankato, Troop 12

—1998, Fairmont, Troop 56

—1996, New Ulm, Troop 51

—1996, New Ulm, Explorer 2444

—1994, Blue Earth, Pack 33

—1994, Waseca, Troop 85

—1992, Sleepy Eye, Troop 99

The database, last updated in 2013, lists 85 total expulsions throughout Minnesota from 1947 to January 2005, though the Scouts purged an unknown number of files prior to the early 1990s.

Brauer, though not wanting to minimize the sexual abuse children faced, defended the progress Boy Scouts has made since the 1980s. He said 90% of national sexual abuse claims reference incidents prior to 1990, and 50% cite abuse from before 1976.

The Scouts began the Youth Protection Program in the 1980s, he said, requiring two registered scout leaders at each outing, forbidding one-on-one contact between adults and children and instituting criminal background checks.

"Did we recognize that there was a societal problem and do what we needed to do to protect kids? Absolutely," Brauer said. "So we did put practices in place to protect kids from those that would use our programs to abuse kids."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.main story