'Perversion files' highlight Fort Bliss scoutmaster
A Fort Bliss scoutmaster was convicted in a military court in a dozen cases of molesting boys at Boy Scouts camps in 1965 and 1966, according to the "perversion files" that the Boy Scouts of America released Thursday.
The molestation case at Fort Bliss was the most serious abuse report in the El Paso area in the documents.
The case is one of three in the El Paso area in 14,500 pages of documents, formally known as the Ineligible Volunteer files, that the Boy Scouts of America released under order from the Oregon Supreme Court in a lawsuit against the national organization.
Boy Scouts files stated that Specialist Four (E-4) Mitchell Peter Provost was court-martialed, given a dishonorable discharge and sentenced to five years of hard labor after being found guilty in 12 counts of "committing lewd and lascivious acts" with boys younger than 16.
At the time, Provost was a 26-year-old Army cook with the U.S. Army Air Defense School and the scoutmaster of Troop 6 at Fort Bliss.
Fort Bliss court-martial documents from June, 2, 1966, were included in the Boy Scouts files.
The military documents listed 12 molestation cases from December 1965 to March 1966. It is unclear how many victims there were. Names of the
victims and details were redacted from Army documents.
Court-martial documents stated that eight molestation incidents occurred at the Zach White Boy Scouts Camp in El Paso, three incidents were at Fort Bliss and one occurred at the Dale Resler Boy Scouts Camp near Cloudcroft.
No mention of the Provost court-martial was found in El Paso newspaper archives.
After the court-martial, a letter from the Boy Scout's Yucca Council in El Paso asked the Boy Scouts of America to place Provost on the "red flag list." Documents stated that Provost was banned from the Boy Scouts.
It is unknown whether Provost is still alive. He would now be 72 years old.
The Boy Scouts of America have said that its confidential files were part of a system intended to protect children by keeping potentially dangerous people out of the organization.
Critics have said that the Boy Scouts were more interested in protecting its wholesome reputation and that in some cases across the nation worked with local authorities to quietly shield scoutmasters and others who had been accused of molesting children.
The Boy Scouts files had two cases from El Paso.
In September 1967, a 43-year-old troop committee leader was banned after he allegedly exposed and fondled himself and tried to touch a boy sharing his tent at camp. The man's name was not published because no charges were filed against him.
In December 1968, James Francis West, then a 39-year-old scoutmaster, was banned from the Boy Scouts after he was arrested for allegedly fondling two boys at an overnight camp, documents stated.
Boy Scouts documents stated that the incident was reported to El Paso authorities after parents had overheard a conversation between boys.
El Paso County court records obtained Friday showed that West was indicted on two counts of "lascivious fondling of male child." He was accused of fondling the private parts of two boys, both younger than 14.
Court documents stated that the indictment and prosecution against West were dismissed in October 1969 by a judge in 34th District Court. The dismissal order does not state why the case was dropped.
County records show that a James Francis West died in 1990.
