Burnsville scoutmaster’s behavior made parents wary

Over the past half-dozen years or so, a few parents of Boy Scouts in Burnsville learned things that bothered them about Peter Stibal II, the scoutmaster now jailed on charges that he molested three scouts.

They learned that he had been alone with individual scouts — at the movies, in his truck for private “driving lessons,” at his cabin and in his home — all violations of scouting’s “two-deep” policy, which requires two adults to be present during scout activities.

John Nelson of Burnsville and other parents complained to local Troop 650 volunteer leaders. Nelson said those leaders admonished Stibal to stop violating the policy. But Kent York, an official for scouting’s regional umbrella organization, said the violations weren’t reported higher up the organizational chain, as they should have been.

“If any concerns had been shared with Northern Star Council, we have very specific procedures in place that we follow,” York said. “No, none of the concerns had been shared with us.”

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