As a school bus driver for Durham Transportation which served the Everett, Washington School District, Charles Grewe was regularly in the company of children. He also held a prominent position within the local Boy Scouts.
In 1980, Charles Grewe was a volunteer for the Boy Scouts of America in Washington State where he served as aquatics director at the Fire Mountain Boy Scout Camp in Mt. Vernon, Washington. Grewe was affiliated with Boy Scout Troop 43 in Lake Stevens Washington and a member of the National Eagle Scout Association.
During the summer of 1980, a 14-year-old Scout attended the Fire Mountain Boy Scout Camp and was assigned to sleep in the same tent with Charles Grewe. At approximately the mid-point of camp, the Scout summoned the courage to tell the camp director that Grewe was molesting him. The camp director scoffed at the allegations and the boy remained quiet. According to the boy, the scout director told him that Grewe was well respected and that no one would believe such allegations.
In fact, Grewe had molested other Boy Scouts and the boy wasn’t the first one to accuse him. Later, court documents demonstrated that the Boy Scouts received numerous complaints about Grewe in addition to the 1980 report. Here is a partial list of other complaints:
* 1979: A Boy Scout reported to two Scout camp leaders that Grewe abused him at the swim beach.
* 1981: Two Boy Scouts in Lake Stevens said Grewe, their Scout leader, touched them in their genital area and spoke to them about sexual acts.
* 1987: A 15-year-old Scout with a learning disability reported that Grewe inappropriately touched him during a swimming lesson at camp.
There is no evidence that the Boy Scouts ever reported any of these incidents to the police. Grewe was eventually sent to prison for the sexual molestation of children he encountered as a school bus driver, not for molesting Scouts. It was not until 1988 after Grewe was arrested and convicted on charges of molesting children on his bus route that the Boy Scouts removed him from Scouting and placed him in their Ineligible Volunteer Files.
According to the Sheriff’s Department website, Grewe was convicted in February 1989 for sex crimes involving several children aged six to 12 and sentenced to five years in prison. Grewe denied any wrongdoing at his trial and he continues to do so. While he was in prison, he did not take part in sex offender treatment as he was found not amenable to treatment because he refused to admit to any of the crimes for which he was convicted.
Grewe was released from prison on April 26, 1992. Presently, he is a Level 3 sex offender living in Mount Vernon, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department.