Former Medford Boy Scout Leader Convicted of Sexually Abusing Neighborhood Boy on Camping Trip

Richard Allen Backes, a former Medford-area Explorer Scout leader, was  charged with and convicted of first-degree sodomy of a 13 year-old boy in 1979.

As a result of these charges and Backes’  subsequent attempt to start an Explorer Scouts post in the Crater Lakes Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 1984, the BSA created a permanent Ineligible Volunteer (IV) file on him.

Click here to download that file.  To see other Oregon Boy Scouts IV Files, click here.

The Boy Scouts of America created these files on scout leaders and volunteers, like Mr. Backes, who have been accused or charged with taking part in inappropriate conduct with children, including sexually abusing, molesting, or exploiting Boy Scouts, Explorer Scouts and Sea Scouts.

In his IV file, Backes is alleged to have lured a boy up to a remote camping site near a place he had named ” Snow Lake,” and molested him in their tent throughout the night.

In a letter from Crater Lake Council Scout Executive Ed Weiseth to BSA Registration Director Paul Ernst, Weiseth recommended “that Mr. Backes not be granted registration with the Boy Scouts of America.”

According to a news report by Medford TV station KOBI in 2012, Backes’ most recent residence was in Medford, Oregon.

If you have any information about former Boy Scouts leader Richard Backes, or about any Scout leader, we would like to talk to you on a confidential basis. Please contact us at 503-306-0224, or email us.