Dyber, James
Ineligible Volunteer File on James Dyber
Added December 28, 1989
In around 1920, soon after the Boy Scouts of America (“BSA”) was formed, the organization began keeping files on adult leaders and volunteers who were alleged to have committed various crimes and offenses. The files are known today as the “Ineligible Volunteer” or the “I.V. Files.”
The I.V. Files are made up of six categories of offenses including Perversion, Morals, Financial, Leadership, Theft and Criminal. By far the largest category is the Perversion Files, or “P Files” as the BSA internally refers to them. The Perversion Files contain the names of adult leaders who have been accused of, or convicted in a criminal court of, molesting or otherwise sexually abusing Boy Scouts.
Disclaimer: The information contained in each of the I.V. files was created solely by the Boy Scouts of America. The I.V. files for the period 1965 through 1985 were made public pursuant to a court order. By the terms of the court’s order, the names and contact information of persons identified as victims of sexual abuse and those that reported the abuse were redacted. If the person identified as the reporter of alleged abuse was a professional Scouter, i.e., an individual employed by the Boy Scouts of America or an affiliate, then the person’s name was not redacted. In 2012, the I.V. Files for the period 1986 through 1991 were made available to the public through the Los Angeles Times.
The information in the Perversion Files concerns allegations of child sexual abuse. In a number of the cases, the allegations were later substantiated by court proceedings. However, in a great many cases no such substantiation ever occurred.
The first page of each I.V. File is a “Confidential Record Sheet,” which provides basic background information on each individual. The information includes the individual’s date of birth, daytime job, and most importantly, his troop number and the basics of the allegations of abuse.
The following information was taken directly from the Ineligible Volunteer file of James "Jim" Dyber. If you continue to scroll down on this page, you will be able to view the entire file and/or download the entire file. If you have any problems downloading or viewing the file, please contact us.
Name
Organization
Troop Number(s)
Troop 164 (West Hartford, Connecticut)
Troop 44 (West Hartford, Connecticut)
Date Ineligible Volunteer File Opened
The local BSA committee accepted Dyber’s resignation but stated that it was not permanent and that he could return to scouting in a few years if he stayed out of trouble. CONF017094. The committee chairman decided not to notify members of the troop and their parents of the abuse “because he felt he didn’t want to increase knowledge of such allegations.” The local committee decided not to “involve anyone else in the matter,” including outside BSA officials or local law enforcement.
Despite his suspension from Scouting, Dyber continued having contact with Troop 164 in 1979. For example, he would follow the troop on camping trips and set up his tent just 50 yards away from the scouts, who he would invite to visit with him. The current Scoutmaster reported the incident to the council and was “quite naturally . . . disturbed by this turn of events.” Even more disturbing, it was discovered that Dyber had been sending letters to scouts inviting them to join his “canoe club” apart from BSA.
Following the events in 1979, the Scoutmaster of Troop 164 wrote to Dyber demanding that he stop contacting scouts or attempting to join troop activities and, in exchange, the Scoutmaster would agree to keep the issue secret (i.e., not inform the Troop Committee).
In 1984, Dyber applied for the Assistant Scoutmaster position with Troop 146. The local BSA committee learned of Dyber’s history and rejected his application. However, Dyber stated that he was already serving as the acting Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 146. Dyber even furnished a certificate issued by BSA indicating that he was registered as the Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 146.
In 1985, Dyber again applied for a leadership position, this time with Cub Scout Pack 161. Once again, local committee members inquired into Dyber’s history and ultimately denied his application. But just like in 1977, the local committee declined to notify the authorities of Dyber’s repeated attempts to gain access to young scouts, stating instead that “BSA doesn’t want anything in public.”
In 1989, Dyber was finally placed in BSA’s confidential “ineligible volunteer” files. It is unclear what prompted the local council to forward BSA information on Dyber; however, it appears this was the first time the council notified BSA’s national administrators of Dyber’s history.