Phoenixville Man Listed in Boy Scouts' 'Perversion Files'

A Phoenixville man is among those listed in the Boy Scouts of America’s “perversion files” released Thursday by a Portland attorney.

According to Philly.com, an Oregon court ordered the release of the files after a two-year legal battle.

Lawrence Wakely, 73, was arrested for the rape of a scout and for assaulting two young girls, according to the previously confidential files the Boy Scouts kept. According to the report, Wakely also “killed someone in retaliation of the boy scouts.”

Wakely was a registered member of Troop 105 of Spring City in the late 1950s when he was a teenager. 

According to Limerick Patch, the documentation that was released on Wakely (his complete report can be viewed here) was created in 1971, after he was convicted of the rape of two teenage girls and sent to Graterford Prison. Letters in the file state that Wakely would be placed on the so-called "confidential list" in case he tried to join Scouts again in the future. 

As of June 2012, Wakely was incarcerated in Huntingdon County Prison following convictions in 1991 for kidnapping, assault and other charges.

In addition to Wakely, 15 other area men were among the 1,892 listed in the boy scouts private files of men they suspected of child sex abuse.

See the full list here.