Former Libby Scout leader among those named in 'files'

The Western News

A former Libby Scout leader is among more than 1,200 men accused of sexual abuse between 1959 and 1985 in the recently released “perversion files,” an extensive dossier of confidential reports from the Boy Scouts of America.

 John David McBride, an assistant scoutmaster in Libby in the early 1970s, was convicted of 15 felony sex crimes against children for molesting Scouts in his troop.

McBride left the organization only after BSA officials learned in 1977 from former Lincoln County Sheriff Mike McMeekin that McBride had pleaded guilty three years earlier to 15 counts of deviate sexual conduct without consent, and lewd and lascivious acts upon a child, according to documents released with the “perversion files.”

In Libby, there is a John K. McBride, who “is no relation.”

“After all this, I heard he moved, but I don’t know what happened to him after that,” said John K. McBride.

Current Scout leader Frank Votapka said this all happened before he joined Scouting in 1988 when his son was a Cub Scout.

The Western News located John David McBride, now 75, in Tukwila, Wash. Since leaving Libby John David McBride was convicted in 2002 of first-degree child molestation.  

John David McBride, who was among six Montana men mentioned in the “perversion files,” served three years of probation for crimes committed in Libby.

In addition to McBride, a Kalispell man, William Leininger Jr., also was named in the files opened Thursday. 

Leininger was convicted in 1976 of raping six girls while they were in the Explorer Scouts program in Kalispell. He was convicted again in 1982 of a separate charge of sexual intercourse without consent, according to Montana Department of Corrections records, and died in prison in 2002 at age 80. 

The report reveals that the Boy Scouts fostered a culture of secrecy, keeping detailed files on known transgressors within the organization as a sort of “black list.” Rather than share the information with law enforcement, however, BSA officials kept mum.

The Boy Scouts of America has since taken steps to be more transparent about allegations against Scout leaders, and has implemented safeguards to protect its Scouts that include background checks, mandatory safety training, and a “two-deep leadership” rule that insures Scouts are never alone with an adult in an unsupervised one-on-one situation.

Currently, there is a case pending filed in September 2011 against the BSA and its Montana Council in Great Falls. The lawsuit accuses the Boy Scouts of “institutional negligence” and fraud, and relates to the criminal case of William Leininger Jr., a Kalispell insurance salesman and Scout leader in the 1970s.

Leininger was convicted in 1976 of raping six girls while they were in the Explorer Scouts program in Kalispell, on which he served as an adviser. He was convicted again in 1982 of a separate charge of sexual intercourse without consent, according to Montana Department of Corrections records, and died in prison in 2002 at age 80.