Did You Know Scout Leader Calvin Malone?

Former Scout Leader Calvin Malone has admitted to sexually abusing many boys over several decades.  In July of 2014, our attorneys filed a lawsuit for sexual abuse inflicted by Calvin Malone.

From our investigation, it appears that Malone may have been active as a Scout Leader in or around the following locations, during the approximate time periods listed below.

Calvin Malone’s Suspected Locations Between Approximately 1971 and 1992:

The Boy Scouts deny that they knew that Calvin Malone posed a risk of sexual abuse toward boys in their program. We are hoping to speak with anyone who knew Calvin Malone in Scouting to gather information.

If you have any information about Calvin Malone, please contact the attorneys at Crew Janci LLP at 1-888-407-0224 or use our confidential online form.  The information you provide may help the victims of sexual abuse by Calvin Malone.

 Below is information about the case from the time it was filed in July of 2014:

Portland, OR – A former Portland Boy Scout filed a $5 million lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America and the Cascade Pacific Council of the Boy Scouts. The suit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleges that the Plaintiff was sexually abused by a Portland-area Scout Leader named Calvin Malone.

The lawsuit alleges that Boy Scouts officials knowingly hired Calvin Malone as an employee and allowed him to volunteer as a Scout Leader after he had previously been banned from Scouting for giving alcohol to young boys.

Documents show that, sometime prior to 1974, the Boy Scouts opened an internal “Confidential File” at their national headquarters, which banned Malone from serving as a Scout Leader. Later, in a letter marked “Personal and Confidential,” the Boy Scouts national office agreed that Malone could be allowed back in Scouting, but “alert[ed] [the local office] to be on the lookout for anything that might cause [them] to have concern about [Malone].”

“Unfortunately, there is no indication that the Boy Scouts gave any similar warnings to the parents or boys in the troop that Malone took charge,” said attorney for Plaintiff Steve Crew.

As a Portland-based employee and volunteer for the Boy Scouts, Malone was given a van called the “Scoutmobile,” which he used to recruit boys and take boys on trips to Washington and California. Malone’s charisma as a Scout Leader was evidenced by his recruiting more than 100 boys to enroll in Portland Troop 75. Malone was involved with other boy scout troops in Portland as well. According to today’s lawsuit, Malone used his position as a Scout Leader to sexually abuse his Scouts like Plaintiff, including “fondling, groping, kissing, and masturbation.” One method Malone used to accomplish his abuse was to provide alcohol to the boy scouts in his troops.

“The Boy Scouts knew that Calvin Malone had broken the law involving children in the past, but they still willingly risked the safety of children by rehiring him,” said plaintiff’s attorneys, Steve Crew. “Parents enrolled their boys in scouts because they trusted the program and the adults that worked there. We intend to prove that the Boy Scouts of America betrayed those parents and the children they swore to protect.”

In all, Malone served as a Boy Scout leader for more than a decade in multiple locations, including Oregon, Washington, Montana, California, Alabama, Germany and Switzerland. And, according to Malone’s own testimony, he abused boy scouts in each location.

“In our experience doing these types of cases, the client often believes that they were the only one who was abused, and they often carry this secret for decades. This suit will give our client the chance to find a voice to bring justice to those responsible for allowing this to happen,“ Peter Janci, co-counsel for the plaintiff, added.

Malone was active in Portland-area Scouting during a tumultuous time. Internal Boy Scouts of America documents indicate that Malone was involved as an adult leader in a troop alongside notorious-pedophile-Scoutmaster Steven Terry Hill. (Hill has been the subject of multiple lawsuits for his sexual abuse of boy scouts during the late 1970s)

In 1993, Malone was convicted of Rape of a Child in the First Degree and two counts of Child Molestation in the First Degree in Snohomish County Washington. Malone was originally scheduled for release in September of 2012, but the Washington State Attorney General’s Office invoked a special legal provision to keep Malone civilly committed based on the belief that he is “likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence unless confined to a secure facility.”

Malone is currently held in a special state detention facility on McNeil Island, an hour outside of Seattle. Often called by its nickname, “Sex Offender Island,” it houses nearly 300 violent sex offenders. The only way on or off the island is by ferry.

Despite his detention on “Sex Offender Island,” Malone remains charismatic. Since his incarceration, Malone has also promoted himself as a “spiritual guru.” In 2008, Malone published a book entitled, “Razor-Wire Dharma: A Buddhist Life in Prison” with Boston-based Wisdom Publications. Wisdom Publications describes itself as “the leading publisher of contemporary and classic Buddhist books and practical works on mindfulness.”

This is one of many recent case involving the Boy Scouts of America’s secret “Ineligible Volunteer” files. Attorneys from Crew Janci LLP were part of the Plaintiff’s trial team in a 2010 civil case that resulted in the first public disclosure of the secret files from the years 1965 to 1985. The secret files formed the foundation of a trial that resulted in a verdict against the Boy Scouts of nearly $20 million, including $18.5 million in punitive damages.

If you have any information about Calvin Malone, please contact the attorneys at Crew Janci LLP at 1-888-407-0224 or use our confidential online form.

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