FBI seeking help in identifying potential victims at NJ scout camps

[RememberSchiff]

May 4, 2023

Seeking Potential Victims in William Mickel Case

The FBI is seeking the public’s help in identifying potential minor victims who attended the following Boy Scouts of America Camps in New Jersey from August 2019 through March of 2022: Camp Winnebago located at 102 Timberbrook Road, Rockaway N.J., and Camp Allamuchy, 750 Waterloo Rd, #3468, Stanhope N.J. William Mickel, age 69, was employed at the camps and allegedly placed hidden cameras in the camps to illegally produce videos and images of children. Law enforcement believes there may be victims from multiple cities across New Jersey and/or the United States. On May 4, 2023, Mickel was arrested on federal indictment for distribution and possession of child pornography in the United States District Court of New Jersey.

...

The FBI is legally mandated to identify victims of federal crimes it investigates. Victim may be eligible for certain services, restitution, and rights under federal and/or state law. Your responses are voluntary but may be useful in the federal investigation and to identify you as a potential victim. Based on the responses provided, you may be contacted by the FBI and asked to provide additional information. All identities of the victims will be kept confidential.

More details at source link:

https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/victim-services/seeking-victim-information/seeking-potential-victims-in-william-mickel-case

Additional Note:

“When children are involved, it’s not child pornography. It’s sexual abuse, and it’s a crime.”

– Glen Pounder, Chief Operating Officer of Child Rescue Coalition

On April 19, 2023, Glen Pounder became the BSA Youth Protection Executive.

[FireStone]

My kids are members of units that camped at Winnebago during the time these recordings were made. My wife and I discussed it tonight, and we will be sending the FBI photos of our kids and hoping they don't get matched to kids in the videos.

I've never had to really confront anything like the feeling of the possibility that my kids could have been victimized by someone in such a way. Or that I personally know many families that are going through the exact same thing tonight, filling out the FBI forms, sending in photos, and hoping they tell us they didn't see our kids in these videos that this monster was distributing to other monsters.

It's worse because I know there is a very low probability that we won't have local victims. I'd be comforted to find out my kids aren't involved but that comfort will be short-lived as I'm fairly certain some families around here won't get that comfort. Multiple units in my town alone are involved in the effort to identify victims. Units from all over this area go to those camps regularly. This one is going to hit us, if not directly then indirectly through our units, our surrounding towns, our council, etc.

I'm trying to lean on my faith to find some calm but if I'm being honest, in this moment, I'm just so damn angry.

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

6 hours ago, FireStone said:

I'm trying to lean on my faith to find some calm but if I'm being honest, in this moment, I'm just so damn angry.

That's because there are children who have been victimized. It it 100% appropriate for anger to arise. You, and the other adults in your local scouting community, are the protectors of the children in it, and your anger is a reflection of that you know what is right when wrong happens. As long as you don't cling to the anger, or make it your identity, it is a form of wisdom, especially when it fuels the courage to take uncomfortable action as you and your wife have. Bravo.

I hope your children aren't on the tapes, but as you say someone's children are. So I guess what I really hope is that the FBI prosecutes the criminals successfully and that the victimized children (and the whole extended community) get any help they need to not have this create negative ripples in their lives.

[MattR]

@FireStone, I understand your anger. Well, I probably don't but it makes sense to me.

All I can add is I'm thankful we can now talk about these things and punish the guilty. So, I thank you and your wife for enabling justice.

[FireStone]

We're confident that this man will see justice and will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. Even a single charge and conviction could get him 20 years. Multiple charges and convictions will likely be coming.

I'm still angry today but that's mixed with the sadness that as a Pack we're having to communicate with parents today about how to send in photos of their children to an FBI email address. That any of us have to do this is sad but I have to admit it hurts more than I expected to be talking about this with other parents regarding their kids. We always want to keep all of our scouts safe. We invite families to join our Pack, go on outings with us, all believing things to be as safe as we can make them. And they are in that we follow safety protocols and YPT very carefully. But then this happens and it just shook me in ways I didn't expect.

We'll carry on. I'll probably look at every camp bathroom a little differently from now on and I know local camps are already implementing new procedures for checking bathrooms. But we'll do what we have to and continue to work to make this as safe as we can.

[RememberSchiff]

May 9, 2023, Patriots' Path Council's 8 page response:

https://ppcbsa.org/wp-content/uploads/FBI-Investigation-Frequently-Asked-Questions-5.9.23.pdf

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by RememberSchiff

[yknot]

23 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

May 9, 2023, Patriots' Path Council's 8 page response:

https://ppcbsa.org/wp-content/uploads/FBI-Investigation-Frequently-Asked-Questions-5.9.23.pdf

 

Those camps pull scouts from a number of councils that are within an hour or two. There is also some degree of crossover from the neighboring cub scout camp. I hope they are reaching out beyond that council and the troop levels. This is the third similar type bathroom incident related to scouting in the region in the past year or so and the 4th if you include a nearby Y camp. Very sad and concerning. 

[RememberSchiff]

Good point! On May 4, the FBI and Justice Department notified public media in NJ/NY/PA area with a request to reach victims.  In my search, only the home Council to those camps posted a Council website notice some days later, though no doubt they were emailing and phoning when the FBI announced.

IMO, given:

1.  camp scouts possibly came from different councils and states.

2.  the investigation includes Council employee(s)

3. child porn often has an internet component

4. the investigation is being conducted by federal enforcement agencies. FBI and Justice Dept here. Note previously, the Ohio "Aqua Joe" (30 years sentence) case was handled by Homeland Security, and there was another scout abuse case(s) by Secret Service.

The National Youth Protection Executive and his staff should be directly involved and responding. As I understand Mr. Pounder has experience with 3 and 4..

This is a time to rethink National and Council roles. I would like to see a uniformed Council SE in court sitting with victim families. NCAP changes, follow-up inspections?

My $0.01

Edited May 12, 2023 by RememberSchiff
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[FireStone]

Is there a gap in YPT training for this sort of thing? YPT is really good at equipping adults to better identify risk factors among adults and scouts for abuse and bullying, but this tech component seems like maybe it's a vulnerability that YPT doesn't adequately address, especially if there are other cases of this happening in and out of scouting.

The camps involved have said they are going to increase regular searches and inspections of bathrooms and other areas of concern.

Personally I would consider it valuable to have some training myself on how to conduct such a search or inspection of facilities. What do you look for? What fixtures are most often used to hide cameras?

Adults and scouts went in and out of the bathrooms at these camps frequently and it sounds like only one device was randomly discovered. Maybe we can do better at equipping adults to look for these things.

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

17 minutes ago, FireStone said:

Personally I would consider it valuable to have some training myself on how to conduct such a search or inspection of facilities. What do you look for? What fixtures are most often used to hide cameras

I was wondering the same thing. 

I was also wondering if perps who plant cameras also try physical action, or if perps with cameras operate in different patterns than physical abusers. Are we looking for one and the same set of behaviors, or two different sets? If we find cameras, should we also expect to find grooming and/or assaults to be happening? I have no idea. I could see it going either way, or just depending as a 'sometimes'.

[slocumscout]

There's been a lot of concern in recent years about hidden recording equipment like this, in a lot of different spaces (most of what I've seen in the last few years has focused on things like AirBnB rentals, motels, and the like.) There are quite a few YouTube "how to screen your room for devices" videos; no idea how effective any of them are. Many of them call for specialized devices (either to spot the IR illumination that some of them are paired with or the wireless signal they send out.)

When I was building my house (this was circa 2000) I used to get a lot of home automation catalogs in the mail, since I was putting network cabling in the walls to try to future-proof a bit. Nearly all of those catalogs had hidden camera devices ostensibly aimed at "home security", ranging from do-it-yourself board cameras to clock radios to smoke detectors to stuffed animals to exit signs, all with embedded wireless cameras. From the product photos, it sure looked like you'd have a hard time noticing anything odd about them. The electronics just keep getting smaller, so the devices you're trying to find are tiny, low power, and require minuscule (often sub-1mm) hole to "see" through, so they'd presumably be very hard to spot in anything that already has a reason to be connected to a power source. You'd probably have better luck finding the thing receiving and recording the wireless signal, although even that could be small these days (think about how small a Roku or FireTV stick is) and with many camps being connected to the internet, the recorder is possibly not even on-site. 

Given all that, I don't know how effective a training for unit leaders might be. A better bet might be trainings for rangers and/or campmasters to inspect facilities that could be targeted like this before use; the assumption would be that they know what's supposed to be there and could spot suspicious additions or changes. 

[RememberSchiff]

I think a law enforcement group or professional security firm could produce a leader training video set at a camp and other scout venues. After all there are several basic hidden camera search videos on Youtube.

I watched a couple videos about AirBnB and rentals and these points were commonly made:

 - visual check for anything unusual

- check power outlets, lights, and switches

- check smoke detectors

- check mirrors

- darken room, use flashlight to see reflection of camera lens (as mentioned, lenses are getting smaller). Also while dark, use phone camera to detect infrared camera operation.

- RF detector phone apps (detect wireless signal)

- check devices on camp wireless router

Another $0.01,

Edited May 12, 2023 by RememberSchiff

[RememberSchiff]

20 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

I think a law enforcement group or professional security firm could produce a leader training video set at a camp and other scout venues.

Could we have this training available online before this summer's scout camps and National Jamboree ?

[InquisitiveScouter]

1 hour ago, RememberSchiff said:

Could we have this training available online before this summer's scout camps and National Jamboree ?

https://us.norton.com/blog/how-to/how-to-find-hidden-cameras#

#8 is interesting.

Edited May 12, 2023 by InquisitiveScouter

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

Thanks, @InquisitiveScouter! Norton should be a good source, and #8 is something most adults could do without much extra effort. We could turn ourselves into regular camera checkers. If all kinds of adults are looking for cameras in bathrooms, odds are better they will be found quickly, and maybe even never put in there in the first place if there's enough checking for them.