{"id":36521,"date":"2023-09-06T14:07:42","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T12:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1883471"},"modified":"2023-09-06T14:39:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T12:39:42","slug":"what-happened-to-aaron-averhart-true-story-behind-netflixs-scouts-honour","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/what-happened-to-aaron-averhart-true-story-behind-netflixs-scouts-honour\/","title":{"rendered":"What happened to Aaron Averhart? True story behind Netflix\u2019s Scouts Honour"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Netflix documentary features interviews with survivors, whistleblowers and experts. <\/p>

By Katelyn Mensah\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 06 September 2023 at 12:07 PM<\/p>

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Warning: This story includes graphic details of child sex abuse that readers may find distressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scouts Honour: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America, Netflix\u2019s newest investigative documentary, exposes how one of America\u2019s largest youth organisations was also the centre of one of the most horrific child sexual abuse scandals in history.<\/p>\n

The Netflix<\/a> documentary aims to go in depth about the sexual abuse cases and the impacts of it on the victims, through interviews with survivors, former employees and whistleblowers.<\/p>\n

Scouts Honour is directed by Brian Knappenberger, who previously worked on The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez<\/a>, and is executive produced by the maker of Oscar-nominated documentary Virunga, Orlando von Einsiedel.<\/p>\n

Aaron Averhart \u2013 pictured above with his older brother Scott \u2013 was a Boy Scout in the \u201980s, and has said he was sexually abused by Scout leader William Sheehan<\/a> whilst on camp, but Sheehan was never arrested or convicted of a crime. Decades later, Averhart has spoken out further about his experience \u2013 a part of his life he is still healing from.<\/p>\n

Read on to find out everything we know about what happened to Aaron Averhart.<\/p>

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What happened to Aaron Averhart?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

At 12 years old, Aaron Averhart has said he was molested, raped and choked by Scout camp leader Michael Sheehan, who died in 2017. Detailing the reported abuse that spanned more than three years, Averhart spoke out about what he faced as a child Boy Scout.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis first inappropriate contact with me was in that camp, in that tent and it was the first or second night I was there. He appeared in my tent late at night as I was sleeping and climbed in the cot with me and dry humped me,\u201d Averhart told News-Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201c[It was] pretty much for the remainder of the summer to varying degrees he did the same thing in the waterfront and the lake as well. The water was darker so you couldn\u2019t really see what he was doing below the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Scouts\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Netflix<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Averhart claimed the abuse took place across four consecutive summers from 1986 to 1989. Two weeks into the second summer, Averhart said Sheehan \u201cstarted to rape\u201d him. \u201cIt just got progressively worse from there,\u201d he told WINK News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an excerpt from his book, Finding Foxborough<\/a>, Averhart reminisced on being \u201cso excited\u201d to join the summer camp.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cI could barely contain myself. The year was 1986, I had turned 12 a few short months before, and I was ready for my greatest adventure so far, the Camp Franklin Miles Boy Scout Summer Camp Program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Averhart was 15 years old when he reported being molested by William Sheehan over four years at camp. Averhart broke down one night in a counsellor\u2019s cabin and Sheehan was quickly removed from Camp Miles, but no criminal charges were brought against Sheehan until 2012 \u2013 by which time Sheehan was in ill health so his arrest warrant was never enforced.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a child tries to come out about abuse against a figure like that, they are almost always confronted with an uphill battle, due to the abuser\u2019s carefully cultivated image and reputation,\u201d Averhart\u2019s book reads.<\/p>\n