Summary
Over a 28-year period starting in the 1950s, Mormon church member Edwin Ellis Dyer molested up to 15 boys. During some of those years, Dyer was their Boy Scout leader.
For some reason, Ed Dyer’s name does not appear in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) “perversion files” (its secret records on alleged molesters).
In the 1970s or 1980s, the Mormon church learned of abuse allegations against Dyer.
Church officials asked Dyer to resign as scoutmaster and later disfellowshipped him, but did not tell police or civil prosecutors.
In 1986, Dyer pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree sexual abuse involving juveniles under 18.
He was sentenced to just 20 days in jail and three years probation.
Five days later, a 17-year-old victim of Dyer, who was present at the sentencing, shot Dyer in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun, outside Dyer’s home.
In 2003, the church’s risk management director, Paul Rytting, wrote to a BSA executive.
Rytting said the church had paid another victim of Dyer $200,000 to drop a civil action against it and the BSA.
The church also spent $58,151.36 in legal fees investigating and defending the legal claim.
Rytting wrote, “In the current child abuse environment, we view this as an excellent resolution.”
Floodlit was the first organization to report on that settlement.
Facts
Alleged coverup-
LDS church payment: $200,000
- Criminal: Convicted, Jail, Probation,
- Civil: Lawsuit v. LDS church, Settlement,
- Church positions: Scout leader,
- Church position during crime: Scout leader,
- Church position when accused: Unknown position,
- Crime: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, in Oregon,
- Victims: 10 or more victims, Multiple victims,
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Born: 1935
Died: 1986 - AKA Ed Dyer
- Mission: unknown
- Places: Oregon,
Sources
- A murder charge has been filed against a 17-year-old...,
- Outdoor Life,
- We just found $1,268,835.62 more in Mormon church child sex abuse costs,
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1. A murder charge has been filed against a 17-year-old...
BEND, Ore. -- A murder charge has been filed against a 17-year-old youth in the shooting of a former Boy Scout leader convicted of sexually abusing him.
The Deschutes County District Attorney's office filed the charge Thursday against Louis R. Conner along with a motion to remand the youth to stand trial as an adult.
He does not turn 18 until October.
Edwin Dyer, 50, a retired Forest Service worker, was shot to death outside his Redmond home on Wednesday. Dyer pleaded guilty last fall to two counts of second-degree sexual abuse involving juveniles under 18.
A week ago -- with Conner looking on in the courtroom -- Dyer was sentenced to 20 days in jail beginning Feb. 15, placed on three years probation and ordered to pay $1,440 to the court.
Dyer also was ordered to refrain from any contact with any youth under 18 unless another adult was present. Authorities said one of the youths involved in the charge was Conner.
Neighbors said Dyer was a longtime member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a former Boy Scout troop leader.
Baker County Circuit Judge William Jackson, filling in for other Deschutes County judges who were out of town, held a 2 hour detention hearing and ordered that Conner remain held at the juvenile detention facility in Klamath Falls.
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2. Outdoor Life
The New Yorker, August 11, 1986 P. 63
AMERICAN CHRONICLES about Ed Dyer, who lived in Central Oregon & through good works had become a valued member of the community. He had a job with the U.S. Forest Service at the ranger station in the town of Sisters, working in the nearby Deschutes National Forest. Eventually he and his wife and 4 children lived in the nearby town of Redmond. The family was active in the Mormon church. Ed became Scoutmaster of the church's Boy Scout Troop 26. As a Scoutmaster he was known for organizing & leading week-long backpacking trips that covered 50 miles on the wilderness trails. Years before his own boys were old enough to be Scouts & years after they'd gone on to other things, he remained active in the Scouts. It was not known that Ed was plagued with homosexual pedophilia-he could not control his sexual desire for young boys. One of the scouts in Troop 26 told his parents that Ed made a sexual advance to him. Ed was then asked by the church to resign as a Scoutmaster. The church leadership decided on disfellowship as a disciplinary measure. This is a sort of probation. The church authorities did not inform the civil authorities of the allegations against Ed. Later it was discovered that the incident was part of a pat tern that went back at least 25 years. Finally in late 1984, the church decided to excommunicate him. Two years after he resigned as Scoutmaster there was another incicent with a 15-year old boy, Louis Conner. A member of the church got no action when he reported Ed's problem to the local police so he turned to the State Police who started an investigation. Dyer pleaded guilty & was given a light sentence. Soon afterward he was shot to death by Louis, who in turn received a light sentence.
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3. We just found $1,268,835.62 more in Mormon church child sex abuse costs
We (Floodlit.org) just discovered $1,268,835.62 more in Mormon church child sex abuse defense and settlement costs. Did you know Boy Scouts registration fees increased in the 1980s and 1990s to offset rising insurance premiums due in part to sexual abuse claims against the Mormon church?
In 2003, the LDS church’s director of risk management, Paul Rytting, wrote a four-page letter to Mark Dama, claim manager for the Boy Scouts of America.
Floodlit obtained a copy of the letter and is sharing it in full here (see images below).
In the letter, Rytting reminded Dama of “unwritten gentleman’s agreements at the highest levels of BSA and the Church” while requesting that the BSA pay for “at least 50% of the fees and settlement amounts” the church spent to defend and settle three child sex abuse claims.
In all, Rytting said, the Mormon church spent $1,075,000 to settle the claims, plus $193,835.62 to investigate and defend against them.
Calling the results “excellent resolutions,” Rytting cited Oregon’s “incredibly liberal statute of limitations” and counsel evaluation of one of the claims to be “several million dollars.”
Rytting wrote, “Our files reflect that during the 1980s and 1990s, scout registration fees increased in part to help defray the cost of increasing insurance premiums.”
He concluded, “There are ways that we might be able even further to aid one another and collaborate. I would like to pursue discussions to that end. We hope that these matters can be resolved to our mutual satisfaction.”
Floodlit will add these newly discovered abuse settlements to our growing public database about over 4,000 claims of sexual abuse in the Mormon church: https://floodlit.org/settlements
If you know of sexual abuse by a Mormon leader or active church member, or of failure to report abuse in the church, please report it: https://floodlit.org/report-abuse
Here is the letter.
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Did you pay BSA fees in the 1980s or 1990s? What do you think about this letter?
Documents
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