Former Pioneer BoD Member, DCI Volunteer of the Year Arrested

[jbl]

is it time for DCI to requrire background checks of staff, and volunteers?

I would assume they're doing it now. Most insurance companies require any activity that has children involved to do background checks of staff and volunteers.

Having said that, even if a background check is done it may not necessarily show a problem. If the person has never been caught or accussed in public of the crime it won't show up on a background check.

Edited January 8, 2006 by jbl

[Jeff Ream]

He was around, but I think we only ever saw him at the Land. The only other places I ever saw him was doing food at the occasional camps I helped out at in '02.

Most of his contact was with the adults... still a creepy thought though. It would still be a smart move for Roman to pay for background checks. It's almost a liability if you don't run them nowadays...

in some states, you can get the forms from the state police and have the person send a check and the form in.

[camel lips]

is it time for DCI to requrire background checks of staff, and volunteers?

I am not sure if I am for this or not.

Hear me out.

Lets say a hard working well meaning parent or supporter had a dope charge when he was 19 years old and he is 55 now and has had a clean record since....are we going to exclude that person from the activity?????

What if its a guy that had a tax charge for failing to report income??????Does that make him a danger to kids????

This may have been asked and answered but what if a kid 19 years of age has a criminal record..Can he march>>???????

Requiring back ground checks is going to put a huge bourdon on the corps both financially and in term of man hours.What if a corps wants to bring in a guest staff person for a weekend.Are they really going to be required to do a background check on these people before they can step foot in front of the kids????

I am all for protecting our kids but find the thought of required background checks scary.

Most states have some sort of sexual predator list.I think it would be wise for corps to check that but requiring it opens a whole new can of worms.

[Phillygwm]

Lets say a hard working well meaning parent or supporter had a dope charge when he was 19 years old and he is 55 now and has had a clean record since....are we going to exclude that person from the activity?????

<snip>

I am all for protecting our kids but find the thought of required background checks scary.

Most states have some sort of sexual predator list.I think it would be wise for corps to check that but requiring it opens a whole new can of worms.

Background checks don't give 100% assurance. From the little I've read about this situation, a background check would have turned up nothing. This guy was a fine upstanding community man, no prior charges, what's to tell?

That said, I think background checks are a good idea. Those "Megan's Law" databases vary from state to state and so some people you might want to know about may not be on there. Old convictions aren't included. In some states, lesser sexual offenses may also be excluded. Would that guy accused of rape who pled to "Corrupting the Morals of a Minor" show up? Maybe...or not.

We're not talking about someone applying for security clearance so as a corps director you have sufficient room to "forgive" the small stuff but yes, you want to know about skeletons. Would you hire a visual tech if he had a DUI last year? Probably...but would you let him drive the staff RV?

Finally, your answers to the above questions may vary depending on the corps. Maybe someone on the staff of a top 6 corps might not pose the same risk (because the membership is older) than to a feeder corps. So yes, there's a big gray area, but I think you still need to find out what you can.

[Orpheus]

Yes, we do still attend a church of no particular denomination every Sunday morning before rehearsal.

Hmmmmm ... what if the member doesn't want to?

Seriously, though, to reply to camel lips' post a couple above this one ... I think if a corps requires background checks, they're probably going to be smart enough to recognize that there's a difference between smoking pot or tax evasion versus a sex crime or other violent felony. Just because you require a background check doesn't mean that you're not gonna hire the guy if any little thing gets turned up.

[JimF-LowBari]

I was a member of council at our old church when they started the background checks for people around the kids. Had to go to the training and reason for the checks meeting. Another way background checks help protect against predators is that any child molester probably isn't going to try to work with a group that has checks. On the other hand if a predator hears of a group that doesn't have checks, you know #### well they will go there as less and less groups don't require checks. As one instructor put it, the mentality of "It can't happen here" is exactly what the predator WANTS to hear".

Edited January 8, 2006 by JimF-xWSMBari

[Orpheus]

I was a member of council at our old church when they started the background checks for people around the kids. Had to go to the training and reason for the checks meeting. Another way background checks help protect against predators is that any child molester probably isn't going to try to work with a group that has checks. On the other hand if a predator hears of a group that doesn't have checks, you know #### well they will go there as less and less groups don't require checks. As one instructor put it, the mentality of "It can't happen here" is exactly what the predator WANTS to hear".

By the way, remember that there's no evidence that this person ever did anything to any member of Pioneer.

[ScribeToo]

Hmmmmm ... what if the member doesn't want to?

On the weekends when I helped out up there, the corps made time for it.. it was available to the kids.. the ones who went were showered and dressed up by the time they were scheduled to go.. the corps bussed them over and breakfast was scheduled for afterwards on Sunday morning.. but I don't think anyone is ever FORCED to go..

They attend different denominational services so it's not any one religious group that's got the heavy hand in all of this.. I think it's hoped that the kids will want to attend.. even as just a time to be meditative and peaceful.. but if there are serious objections, I think a kid will be allowed to stay behind. There didn't seem to be many (if any) who did, though, while I was there.

Stef

[Gantang]

Here's what he charged with...

Count No. Statute Description Severity

1 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

2 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

3 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

4 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

5 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

6 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

7 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

8 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

9 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

10 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

11 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

12 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

13 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

14 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

15 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

16 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

17 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

18 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

19 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

20 948.12(1m) Possession of Child Pornography Felony I

21 948.11(2)(a) Sell Harmful Material to Child Felony Felony I

22 948.05(1m) Child Sexploitation-Produce,Perform,etc. Felony F

Follow the case at:http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;jsessionid=F5CDBA01E7DBBC116C67F85DC4277415.render5?caseNo=2005CF000482&countyNo=66&cacheId=E8090638BAFCAEC80A547481AA0E7C1E&recordCount=25&offset=0

Edited January 8, 2006 by Gantang

[PeeJay]

I marched in Pioneer and consider Curt to be a good friend of mine. He was always there and was/is a very caring, loving and warm individual. Actually his whole family is like that. I marched with two of his children and his wife was also very active in Pioneer at that time. They are all absolute angels. What they have done for the Pioneer organization can never be described. That's why it was probably an even bigger shock to hear about this.

Curt and I talked about many serious 'world matters' often and I never ever noticed anything he would have done to anyone in the corps. Allegations like these make you think about things you might have seen, but have forgotten about but after two weeks I still cannot come up with anything.

I pray for the entire family and hope that the allegations are false. If they are not, he should be brought to justice. But my only thought right now it; Please, let is not be true.

I think Pioneer should only react to their members and I think they already did.

Roman has offered everyone who needs information or wants to talk about this his time over the phone. It's all he can do....