Anti-Gay Sea Scouts leader arrested on suspicion of molesting minors

[Tock]

Berkeley Sea Scouts leader arrested on suspicion of molesting minors

http://dailycomet.com/article/20071205/APN/712050566

BERKELEY, Calif. Police have arrested a well known Berkeley Sea Scouts leader on suspicion of sexually assaulting minors over a period of several years.

The scout leader, Eugene Evans, 64, is the same man who sued Berkeley after the city revoked free berthing privileges because the group's parent organization, the Boy Scouts, bar atheist and gay members.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evans_v._Berkeley

Police say an investigation determined Evans was responsible for molesting a number of boys ranging in age from 13-17. The retired high school teacher is being held on six felony counts of sexual assault including lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under the age of 14 and oral copulation with a minor under 16 years of age.

Evans' bail is $1 million.

The United States Supreme Court let stand last year a state supreme court ruling that upheld Berkeley's decision to deny free slips. City officials told the Sea Scouts that the group could retain its free berths by breaking ties with the Boy Scouts or disavowing the policy against gays and atheists.

The Sea Scouts, which teaches sailing, carpentry and plumbing, refused to do so.

================================================== ===================


Also:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_7649274

Scout leader arraigned on molest charges
Evans once took battle to exclude gays to Supreme Court; supporters doubt accusations
By Kristin Bender, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 12/06/2007 09:30:18 AM PST

BERKELEY — While Sea Scout leader Eugene Austin Evans went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to stand up for the Boy Scouts of America's policy to exclude gays and atheists, he was molesting boys aboard a Berkeley-based ship, police said.



Evans, 64, was arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court on Wednesday on six felony counts of oral copulation with a minor, engaging in substantial sexual acts with a minor, penetration with a foreign object and showing or distributing lewd material to a minor. He remains in custody at Santa Rita jail in Dublin in lieu of $190,000 bail and is due in court Friday to enter a plea.

Evans is accused of having sexual relations with four boys, ages 13 to 17, aboard the S.S.S. Farallon, the 85-foot ship used for the Sea Scouts program, over the last five years, said Berkeley Police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss.
But those who know Evans, a former Alameda high school teacher and the Sea Scouts' skipper for 35 years, said the allegations must be false.
More than a dozen former and current Sea Scouts and parents attended Evans' arraignment Wednesday, and outside of court discussed ways to raise bail money.

"I don't understand what is going on here," said Jim Novosel, 62 of Berkeley, whose two sons went through the program. "I don't believe it. I just don't see it."
Evans' attorney, Philip Schnayerson, said his client has worked with young people for more than 30 years without any complaints. At the Berkeley Marina, acting waterfront manager Ann Hardinger said she has never heard a complaint about Evans in the six years she has worked at the marina.



Joe Fisher, 25 of Sacramento, was in the Sea Scouts program from 1996 to 2000 and also in Evans' classes at Encinal High School.

"This is totally out of character. From the bottom of my heart, I would bet my life on his innocence," said Fisher, adding he believes Evans' is being framed by the city of Berkeley because of his involvement in a lawsuit against the city.

"There's a history there in Berkeley that people don't like the Sea Scouts," Fisher said.

City of Berkeley spokeswoman Mary Kay Clunies-Ross said it's a police matter and he was arrested because police have evidence against him.
Evans was the lead plaintiff in a 1998 lawsuit against the city of Berkeley for revoking the Sea Scouts city-funded berth at the marina because the group refused to disavow the Boy Scouts of America's exclusion of gays and atheists.

Last year, Berkeley won the eight-year legal battle.

Berkeley had let the Sea Scouts — who teach sailing, navigation and boating related skills — use city-owned berths free of charge for decades, but in 1997 passed an ordinance banning subsidies for groups that discriminate. There have been no specific discrimination allegations against the Sea Scouts.

Berkeley police arrested Evans — who lives alone and has no children — at his Kensington home shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday.

"Detectives said he had (a) very flat (tone). He did not appear to be surprised," Kusmiss said.

They seized a computer containing child pornography from his home, Kusmiss said. Police believe Evans showed the pornography to his victims during the molestations, which occurred aboard the Farallon ship or after Sea Scouts gatherings, Kusmiss added.

Evans' neighbor Rory Fischer said he often saw youngsters at the house working on a small boat. Fischer described Evans as being very cordial and pleasant, but also described the former U.S. Marine as a stoic loner.

"My wife and I are just sick about it. We hate to see that happen, but when you have an antisocial behavior, something is wrong," he said.
Kusmiss said investigators believe the four boys who came forward are not the only victims.

"We are quite confident there are (more victims)," she said. "Based on our knowledge and experience of sex offenders and the culture of pedophilia, it is unlikely that his activity is confined to recent years."

Police said the investigation was launched on Nov. 14 when a boy and his parents came to Berkeley police with claims that Evans had molested the boy. The boy gave police the names of others he believed could be victims and three of those boys also claimed they were molested by Evans, Kusmiss said.

Evans taught at Alameda High School for about a decade and then moved to Encinal High where he taught for the remainder of his 31-year career, said Alameda school district spokeswoman Donna Fletcher. He taught social studies and retired in June 2004, she said.

In addition to running the Sea Scouts program for 18 youngsters in Berkeley, Evans also ran a program for 36 youth on the same boat, but in the waters of Alameda, said Jerry Wells, Alameda scout executive.
Both the Alameda scouting council and the Mt. Diablo Silverado scouting council, which runs the Berkeley Sea Scouts program, revoked Evans' scouting registration following his arrest. The revocation means Evans will not be allowed to be involved in scouting programs unless he wins back the right on appeal, Wells said.

"It's very troublesome," said Wells. "One child being abused is one too many and we in Boy Scouts try to dedicate ourselves to eliminating child abuse. Unfortunately, cases like this show that there is no fail-safe method for screening out all abusers."

At Encinal High Wednesday, the news that Evans was charged with sexually assaulting boys shocked employees.

"We never in our wildest dreams imagined anything like this," said school office manager Martha Wolthuis. "When he worked here, there was never a hint or any rumors that he was doing anything inappropriate."

[Tock]

Yep . . . anti-gay and anti-atheist on the outside, Bible-Beleiving Christian child molester on the inside.

Tsk tsk tsk.

[helium3]

i just think the anti-gay and anti-atheist thing was a front.child molesters will find their way into a position that gives them the oppertunity to molest. he sounds pretty fu@ked up without molesting children if he cant express his true beleifs.