Attorney Jeff Anderson, left, holds up a physical fitness badge used by the Boy Scouts of America as Richard Halvorson looks on during a news conference in Newark, N.J., Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Halvorson is alleging sexual abuse in a lawsuit filed against the Boy Scouts of America. The abuse occurred under the guise of trying to earn the fitness badge when Halvorson was an 11-year-old boy scout. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NEWARK, N.J. – A New Jersey man who says he was abused by a Boy Scouts troop leader in the 1980s is suing to force the organization to release long-secret files containing the names of volunteers who were banned or considered risks for child sexual abuse.
Attorneys for retired police officer Richard Halvorson filed the suit late Monday.
The troop leader was suspended in 1987. The attorneys said he also worked as a schoolteacher and may have worked for another youth scouting organization.
The Boy Scouts have kept the files for decades. About 5,000 have been made public as a result of court action, but others remain confidential.
A Boy Scouts of America spokesman said in an email Tuesday that the organization supports the creation of a national registry of suspected abusers.
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