Document trail: Paul Scott Koefoot
Posted: 10/28/2012
Last Updated: 234 days ago
In 1982, college student Paul S. Koefoot served as acting scoutmaster of an Evanston, Ill., troop at a summer camp. Months later, a Scout’s mother wrote to the council executive, complaining that Koefoot had carried out “improper acts” there with her 11-year-old son.
“My husband and I feel very strongly that the council should take the necessary actions to ensure that Paul will never again be able to take advantage of a young boy in the Scouting setting,” she wrote, adding that they would trust the officials to deal with the matter.
Koefoot was removed from Scouting in June 1983; his file contains no sign of a police report.
In 1997, police in Lincoln, Neb., investigated Koefoot on suspicion of molesting 13-year-old Shaun McPherson and at least 10 other boys in his neighborhood. McPherson wasn’t a Scout. Based on testimony that he and other boys provided, Koefoot was convicted and sentenced to prison in 1998.
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