PARKERSBURG- Three Wood County Boy Scout troops were listed as having leaders or volunteers who were expelled on accusations of sexual abuse, but no other information is available.

Recently, 14,500 pages of secret “perversion files” were released by the Boy Scouts of America on order of the Oregon Supreme Court. Those files cover more than 5,000 men and a handful of women who were expelled from the Scouts between 1947 and January 2005 on suspicion of sexual abuse.

From those files, 24 suspected sexual abuse cases were found in West Virginia troops between 1964 and 2003, according to a database compiled by the Los Angeles Times.

Information is available on alleged incidents from Huntington, Glen Dale and Sutton; the remaining 21 cases have no files available but are identified by a unique ID number, city and associated troop unit.

According to the database, in Parkersburg one suspect was involved with troops 2016 and 2017 in 1993-94, and in Williamstown one suspect was involved with Troop 215 in 1988.

Dale Musgrave, Scout Executive for the Parkersburg-based Allohak Council that covers 15 West Virginia counties and two in Ohio, said he has been with the local council since May 1, 2006, and in that time there have been no allegations of sexual abuse.

Musgrave said the two Parkersburg troops listed may have been a typographical error.

“We have no four-digit troops in our council in Parkersburg,” he said. “That could be a typo or a Parkersburg in another state. They could be old numbers from before the 1991 merger of the Central West Virginia Council based in Clarksburg and the Kootaga Council based in Parkersburg.”

Musgrave said the Boy Scouts has a procedure to investigate inappropriate activity.

“They may or may not include sexual abuse,” he said. “If they are removed from the troop, they are refunded their registration fee and we tell them they no longer meet the requirements to work with the troop.”

Musgrave said there is an appeal procedure.

Musgrave said the local council does not maintain files of those who are ineligible, but anyone who applies to be a volunteer with local Scouts is subjected to a background check.

“With computers if someone is found to be ineligible, they can be tracked,” he said. “We are on the cutting edge of youth protection. Locally, we have a vice president of youth protection who is a volunteer, a former West Virginia State Police captain and attorney.”