Fricke, Donald Leroy
Ineligible Volunteer File on Donald Leroy Fricke
Added October 10, 1966
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 Donald Leroy Fricke. 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.
Donald Fricke
In 1966, BSA forced then-Scoutmaster of Troop 708, Donald Fricke, to resign from Scouting after he was convicted of molesting young boys.
But in 1979, BSA allowed Fricke to reenter Scouting on a “probationary basis” as Cubmaster for Pack 3720.
In 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1984, BSA again approved Fricke’s involvement in Scouting on a “probationary basis,” despite his prior sexual abuse conviction.
But by 1985, parents discovered that Fricke had been previously convicted of child molestation and demanded he be removed. In response, BSA claimed, “the Boy Scouts organization was unaware of his criminal record until two weeks ago.” Furthermore, BSA claimed that the organization was “unaware of this incident because a 1982 flood wiped out the Scouting records,” although conceded that Fricke had rejoined the organization in 1977, five years before records were washed away.
