WWYD in this situation?

[LD92599]

I had to fire my assistant earlier this week for inappropriate behaviour on his computer plus 2 computers that are semi "public" in the office. Once he was gone and i did more searching I found a ton of naked photos of himself in addition to xrated video's of himself and others (i assume pulled from the 'net) plus way too many photos of seductive women and instant messenging logs of related conversations.

My concern is that this person is childless but extremely involved with the local schools and boy scouts as a scoutmaster or assistant.

Would you contact the boy scouts? the police? didn't locate pics of kids otherwise the answer was a no-brainer in that respect.

Thanks!

[overcome]

FIrst.ewwww..gross and second, I would contact the police. Even if he didn't offically break any laws and/or there is not enough evidence to investigate him, at least you'll know you've covered your bases and you won't be up at night wondering if you should report him.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

[kijip]

I would only call the police if the materials in question are illegal. Like child porn or something. It sounds like a collasal waste of your company's resources (glad he got fired!!!) but it does not sound illegal. A lot of perfectly respectable scoutmasters, husbands and teachers likely have porn around. Not my cup of tea but it does not mean they are a risk to their communities. How many of the women here can say their own husband's never look at porn? Likely very few.

My husband had a roommate in college who was about done with a course of study to become a high school teacher. The idiot roommate was having trouble with his computer and he asked my husband to troubleshoot it. The machine had tons of porn on it (which casued the virus on the computer that needed to be fixed), and it became rapidly apparent that much of it depicted young girls of high school age or at least appearance. He did contact campus security, the local police and the education department. The idiot roommate luckily did not get his teaching certification, due to the arrest. I don't know what happened to him after that.

[SnuggleBuggles]

If he wasn't with kids in the pics/ videos or looking at x rated pics/ videos of kids then I wouldn't say anything. If he is dealing with legal, consenting adults then it really is not something that needs to be of concern, imo.

Beth

[SnuggleBuggles]

If he wasn't with kids in the pics/ videos or looking at x rated pics/ videos of kids then I wouldn't say anything. If he is dealing with legal, consenting adults then it really is not something that needs to be of concern, imo.

Beth

[MayB]

I generally agree with the responses that, while completely yucky (and stupid), what consenting adults do on their own time is their own business. The line that bothers me is, "My concern is that this person is childless but extremely involved with the local schools and boy scouts..." I could be overreacting, but how common is it for childless adults to be involved in those activities? Was your HR department involved in the firing, perhaps they could give some guidance. Although fear of a lawsuit from the fired employee might keep them from reporting much. This is a tough one.

[mariza]

ITA "yuck"
Before calling police, is there a legal dept. in your company that you can consult with?

Mariza
Mommy to my "Thing 1" DD 1/05
and "Thing 2" DS 9/06

[SummerBaby]

I am an attorney who works in employee relations for a government agency. unfortunately, these cases have become extremely common since the dawn of the internet. While we generally don't contact police unless children are involved, I agree the boy scout thing is odd. If you have any concerns, I would contact law enforcement. I'm not sure what your computer expertise is, but there are ways to "hide" things on a computer. So there may very well be illegal content on his computer. A computer forensic expert would be able to examine the computer and restore deleted files, and determine if this employee was sending/receiving illegal photos. For example, he could have been sending the nude photos of himself to an underage person.

Of course, there is no guarantee that the police will even investigate, but at least you will know you did what you could. I would definitely check with HR before you do anything, however, because your company may have a policy about such things.

Val
Mom to Madeline
7/28/04

[SnuggleBuggles]

It just seems to me that the reservations you have about his involvement in the community was brought up by the people who let him become a boy scout master and such. I imagine they did screening and background checks.

I'm not naive and saying that bad people don't slip through the cracks- or have no red flags on them because they haven't been caught- but there isn't enough to his story to know why he wants to be involved in the community if he is childless. It could very well be innocent (loved being a boy scout as a kid and just hasn't kids yet himself but still wants to be involved?)

I would hope that parents who have kids in his care are vigilant...as they should be at all times because even the responsible looking father or something could turn out to be a problem, right?

Beth

[dr mom]

Me, I'd be so irritated at the whole situation, I'd be inclined to post his homemade nudie pics on YouTube.

Bet he'd be a little more careful where he left photos of his naughtybits in the future. ;)

[C99]

Is stupidity a reason to ban someone from the Cub Scouts? Is looking at adult pornography? I don't think so. Unless what he did was illegal, I wouldn't bother contacting the police or the Cub Scouts organization. Being an idiot and looking at (adult) porn are not illegal, as far as I know.

[MayB]

In this case, it wasn't just looking adult pornography but also participating in it. Not illegal, but not something I would want around my DS. I'm sure there are morality clauses for scout leaders and school volunteers. If it were around my children, I'd want to know.

[kijip]

>The line that bothers me is, "My
>concern is that this person is childless but extremely
>involved with the local schools and boy scouts..." I could be
>overreacting, but how common is it for childless adults to be
>involved in those activities?

There are men that are just have a legit interest in helping kids. My son's godfather for example worked as a babysitter in college, as a Big Brother volunteer, a volunteer with children diagnosed with autism and as a volunteer with his three little brothers' boy scout troops. I have several male friends who were Eagle Scouts themselves that are still involved in scout activities even though they do not have their own kids yet, often because they have siblings that are in scouts still or because they just like working with kids. While caution is prudent, without some other indications I am not convinced the childless men who volunteer with kids are guilty of anything. My son's godfather is recently married and he does not have any children yet, but I have no hesitation to trust him with my own son.

[tarabenet]

Seconding Katie that yes, there are non-dad men who just have an interest in kids -- a non-sexual, non-threatening interest.

If this guy were "into" kids sexually, you would have found that kind of stuff on his computer, not just adults.

The thing that did occur to me though was that you need to careully document this, including the ickiest stuff, before you reformat his former PC. Maybe copy it all onto a CD, seal it in a clearly labeled CD mailer and file it in his personnel folder? That way, if he comes up with any kind of wrongful termination action, you have your evidence. Also you have protection for yourself and your company if somehow he *has* red-flagged on kiddie porn or other llegal stuff somewhere along the way.

ETA: after you've done the CYA stuff, you do want to make sure the files are cleared completely and thoroughly. The next employee assigned that computer could otherwise stumble across something and then you have a "hostile environment" risk on your hands. What an odd world we've managed to build.

[MayB]

I probably should have been more careful in choosing my words. I agree completely with what you are saying. In fact my husband, a former eagle scout, was very disappointed when a local scout troop who was looking for volunteers never called him back when he volunteered a number of years ago (before children). We both suspect it was because he was not a parent. My comments were directed at the pairing of the pornographic activities and the phrase "extremely involved with the local schools and boy scouts". The OP's description of this man's activities did not match with someone I would want working with my child, regardless of whether child pornography was involved. If nothing else, he exercised extremely poor judgment and impulse control.

[masha12]

I would discuss your concerns with your company's legal department, if there is one. While you are immune from suit for reporting something to the police, you do not have the same protection in disclosing information to the Boy Scouts or other private individuals/organizations.

You just don't want to be on the receiving end of some lame lawsuit by some litigious former employee who is ticked that you not only fired him but also got him kicked out of the Boy Scouts.

I would encourage your company to at least call the police to discuss the matter. There is an escalation in the use of pornography and so even if he was only into "adult" stuff when he downloaded the photos at work, he might have moved on to "younger" stuff and been smart enough to download that at home.

It is possible the police would contact the Boy Scouts and ask a sufficient number of questions to alert them to the situation.

[new_mommy25]

While what he did on company time is bad, I don't see any reason to involve the police or boy scouts. It's gross and icky but certainly not illegal as long as all parties involved were consenting adults. Who knows what the current boy scout leaders do in their free time.

eta: Contacting boy scouts could also open yourself up to a possible law suit.

[Jen841]

Ditto, consult your internal legal resources. You may not be able to share what you viewed on company materials/resources/equipment. If you report something inappropriate you could be subject to dismisal yourself. Call me crazy, but protect yourself too!