Former Oregon Boy Scout volunteer, Douglas Wardell III, 34, was arrested last week and charged with repeatedly raping and fondling a 14-year-old girl between 2016 and 2019. A Marion County grand jury indicted him this week on two counts of first-degree rape and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse.
Wardell had been a Cub Scout leader even though he had a history of domestic violence. According to the Salem Cub Scout Pack 122 website, Wardell was the leader of the Tigers, a Cub Scout group for first graders.
Officials with the Cascade Pacific Council confirmed that Wardell had been an adult member of the Boy Scouts of America since 2016. To be an “adult member” of the Boy Scouts of America means Wardell was a registered volunteer with BSA. Applications for volunteers inquire about past drug use, criminal arrests, and abuse allegations.
Adult members with the Boy Scouts of America must pass a background check and undergo youth protection training. They are required to “be a person of good moral character,” according to the BSA’s Cascade Pacific Council.
But according to court records, in 20018, a woman filed a restraining order against Wardell claiming Wardell choked, pushed, assaulted, and threatened her. When asked by a reporter whether a record for domestic violence would prohibit someone from volunteering for the Scouts, Scout officials declined comment.
It is unclear from news reports how Wardell met the underage rape victim.