PHOENIX (CBS5) -
The Boy Scouts of America organization is accused of a century-long cover-up, hiding evidence of sexual abuse by Scout leaders.
Volumes of confidential information called the "perversion files" were released Thursday and CBS 5 News has learned nearly two dozen cases are connected to Arizona.
The 1,200 documents cover incidents from 1965 to 1985. They describe actual or suspected sexual abuse by volunteers or troop leaders. [Related: Boy Scouts release ‘perversion files']
Jon Anderson said he was molested by a scoutmaster when he was 14.
"I did not understand how it affected my behavior. I had all this guilt that I was responsible," Anderson said.
The documents outline in detail the 23 Arizona cases.
In 1969, a scoutmaster in Lake Havasu City was identified by parents of making 'homosexual advances to boys.'
The 28-year-old moved away but his name was still placed in the Scouts' confidential file to prohibit him from being registered in any council in Scouting.
Another Arizona case was uncovered from 1972 when a Phoenix man was dismissed from being a Scout leader after members learned he was discharged from the coast guard for his homosexual behavior involving to young sons of a commanding officer.
Boys Scouts of America president Wayne Perry said in an interview this week the confidential files are valuable because they're used to keep track of people who have violated the Boy Scouts' membership standards.
"The only purpose of these files is to keep people out, to keep them from re-entering the Boy Scouts later on and the files showed that that worked," Perry said.
But the files didn't always work. In 1966, an Indiana member of the Scouts was found guilty of sodomy. In 1978, he was let back in the organization and was a member for eight years.
"To the extent that we fell short of protecting the youth, and we did fall short in some instances, we're profoundly sorry," Perry said.
The Boy Scouts of America now claims to have some of the best protection among youth groups in the country, with criminal background checks, training programs and mandates to report actual or suspected abuse.
Since the files were kept secret for so long, in some cases the statute of limitations has run out and many offenders can no longer be prosecuted.
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Volumes of confidential information called the "perversion files" were released Thursday.
