A former director at a Boy Scouts camp based in Palo Alto is among the thousands of people accused of sexually molesting scouts over the past four decades, according to a trove of documents that Boy Scouts of America released under court orders this week.

According to the documents, Ron Wentworth was working as a camp maintenance director with Troop 31 in the summer of 1971 when several scouts reported that he was making "homosexual advances" against them. The troop was based in Camp Oljato, which was administered from Palo Alto's Lucie Stern Community Center at 1305 Middlefield Road.

The incidents described in the report allegedly occurred between July 29 and Aug. 1 of that year and were reported by several boys from Troop 31. One of them reported that on July 29 Wentworth twice placed his hand on a scout's genitals and, in another incident, asked a scout to sit on his lap. Two days later, as the scouts were sailing with Wentworth, he reportedly held one of the scout's genitals and "attempted to put his hand inside his bathing suit, getting it part way in." The scout pushed him away.

Wentworth's advances were well known to members of the troop, according to the report. By the time the leaders of Troop 31 were aware of the sexual-molestation allegations, "almost all of the Scouts in the troop were aware of what had happened and were discussing it among themselves," the incident report states. Most scouts, it notes, "liked Ron, were sorry for him, and were afraid of him." Various scouts also reported "various minor incidents of holding, pushing, roughhousing, grabbing, and horseplay, without specific sexual implication, over the past half week, involving Ron."

Wentworth, who now lives in Kentucky, did not respond to requests for comments.

Despite these reported incidents, it does not appear that Wentworth faced any criminal charges. The camp director of Camp Oljato notified Executive Director Robert Horton of the allegations and then spoke to Wentworth, who denied that these episodes had happened.

"He looked shocked, denied any wrongdoings, said he meant nothing by the horseplay, no sexual implications were intended, and that at most he was indiscreet in engaging in contact roughhousing with the Scouts," wrote the camp director, whose name is retracted in the incident report. "He offered to leave the camp quickly and quietly."

Boy Scout officials considered what to do about the allegations and ultimately decided to let him leave the camp "because his position was at least untenable." Though his "guilt or innocence could not be absolutely determined," the incident report states, "he was at least indiscreet, the Scouts saw his actions as homosexual and the Scouts were afraid of him."

"Ron was advised to seek counseling, agreed to leave camp immediately, and also said he would talk to (Scout Executive) Robert Horton," the report states.

The camp director discussed the incident with several other officials from Troop 31, including assistant scoutmasters, and the group agreed "that the correct course of action had been taken, that the committeemen would notify the parents, and that the Scouts would be advised not to talk to any other troop members."

The camp director also wrote that he had attended the troop's campfire during that evening "where leaders led a very calm, open and rational discussion."

"All Scouts seem quite calm and level-headed about the incident," he wrote.

Horton, scout executive for Stanford Area Council, No. 31, forwarded the incident report to Paul Ernst, the organization's supervisor for registration and membership. While Ernst thanked Horton for the records, he gave no indication whether any criminal charges would be pursued against Wentworth.

"This additional information will be most important in the future, should this man ever again attempt to register in Scouting," Ernst wrote in a May 4, 1972, response.

The Boy Scout files became public after the Oregon Supreme Court ordered their release in June upon request from various news agencies, including the Associated Press, The New York Times and the Oregonion. It includes more than 1,200 files on suspected sexual molesters.

The documents released by the Boy Scouts include information about roughly 5,000 people who were dismissed by the organization between 1947 and 2005 because of allegation of sexual abuse.

In addition to Wentworth, it alludes to two other cases of possible sexual molestation in Palo Alto but it doesn't name the suspects in those cases.

The Los Angeles Times has created a searchable database of what has become known as the "perversion files," which can be found here.