Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston Officially Discredits Rape Victim

Three months prior to this letter from the Boys Club, I sent out a letter to members of the Club’s Board of Directors and included Fr. Healy’s affidavit with it. The Boys Club responded one month later with a letter offering to settle. The letter itself spoke only of a desire to begin talks. However, Attorney Malone and I exchanged e-mails regarding a meeting between myself and certain directors and the cost of a settlement. I asked for $200,000, to which Ms. Malone said that the Club had no money and that I was taking money put aside for the kids. In other words, “what happened to you is regrettable, but what’s done is done, and we just don’t have anything to compensate you.” Or, in even more offensive terms, “We acknowledge what happened to you, but we don’t think you’re worth any expense.” That was how Judith A. Malone repeatedly and consistently  came across to me. Every single interaction I had with her was contentious and always led to a widening of the chasm between us and a ratcheting of the tension, always.

Ms. Malone said she hoped to get back to me on a certain of the next week. And when she didn’t, I contacted the Boston Globe and told them what had happened at the Charlestown clubhouse in 1963. And I faxed her a copy of the letter.

Ms. Malone then contacted Mr. Hardoon to ask if the Globe letter had gone out. When told that it had, Ms. Malone said “once the horse is out of the barn,” the Club will fight instead of settling. Ms. Malone also stated that the Boys Club would contact the other five boys pictured alongside me in a 1963 photograph taken at the Charlestown clubhouse. A few days later, Ms. Malone telephoned Mr. Hardoon again and stated that the Club had contacted two of the boys in the photograph but that the other three were all on vacation. When asked what the Club had discovered from their contact with these individuals, Ms. Malone refused to disclose anything. She then stated that she would contact Mr. Hardoon again after the Club had contacted the other three individuals. Ms Malone never called back. A few weeks later, Mr. Hardoon received the following letter, but he never forwarded it to me. I found out about it from the Club itself after I made inquiry.

Please note that the following letter is riddled with lies, starting with Malone’s assertion that the individual I identified as a possible suspect was never a member of the Charlestown Boys Club. I have a picture of him at the Club. And there are more. In the third paragraph, she states that they have no records dating back to 1963. They made settlements with the children who were assaulted alongside me, just not me — because I could not speak of what had been done to me.

September 2, 1999

BY FAX & U.S. MAIL

Dear Larry:

I am writing to respond to your client’s demand for $250,000.00 from the Boys & Girls Clubs, based upon his claim that he was assaulted at the Club by a junior counselor in 1963. We have been dealing with Mr. Chester now for almost three years. As I am sure you are aware, Mr. Chester first contacted the Club in the early fall of 1996. At that time he claimed that he had been subjected to a hazing and to an assault at the Charlestown club in 1961 when he was nine years old. He later changed the date of the alleged assault to 1963 when he was eleven years old. At the time he indicated that he was looking for financial assistance so that he could continue his healing process. In that letter he declined to reveal the name of the alleged assailant and stated, that if it was necessary to expose the “monsters” who had assaulted him, he wanted them to be caught unaware. (Chester letter 6/17/97).

About six weeks later, Mr. Chester, through you, contacted the person he had identified as one of his assailants, and offered not to take any action against this person, if that individual would assist Mr. Chester in an action against the Boys & Girls Clubs. (Hardoon letter of August 7, 1997) The individual identified by Mr. Chester was never a member or employee of the Club and it appears now that you have accepted the fact that this person did not engage in the conduct alleged by Mr. Chester.

Throughout this time, Mr. Chester claimed that he had the names of individuals who might have knowledge of this incident, but refused to give these names to the Club. His unwillingness to assist the Club was quite frustrating. Unfortunately, the Club has no membership or personnel records from 1963. We believe that many of the Club’s records from the 1960s and the 1970s were destroyed in a fire. We do have some payroll records from 1961 and 1962 and the individual he identified is not listed as an employee in those years.

Mr. Chester did turn over to us his compendium of information which included his psychiatric records and his “diary” of his efforts to recall the events of 1963. This body of information raised more questions than it answered for the Club. It appears that Mr. Chester had significant family and relationship problems going back to his early childhood. Additionally, while Mr. Chester asserted to the Club that he only recently began to recall the events of 1963, he also asserts that he told others about the assault in the late 1970s, some fifteen years after it occurred.

Earlier this summer, Mr. Chester provided the Club with a newspaper photograph from 1963 which has a picture of a James Chester, listed as attending the camp. Using that picture, and the names contained in the accompanying article, as well as the names Mr. Chester provided as Club members, the Club has gone back to the Charlestown community and interviewed a number of people who have been involved with the Club for many years. Some of the people that they interviewed were members of the summer camp in the summer of 1963. No one could corroborate Mr. Chester’s claim or had any memory of the events that Mr. Chester recounted, although Mr. Chester claimed that other campers were in the room during the alleged assault and the room that Mr. Chester referred to had a window that looked out into the gym. At this point, the Club has concluded its inquiry and cannot credit any of the events that Mr. Chester details in his correspondence with the Club.

The remaining question is where does all of this leave us? The Boys & Girls Club is justifiably proud of its history of service to the children of Boston. The Clubs serve children in Boston’s communities who have the greatest need for the social, educational and recreational activities that the clubs provide. They provide these things on funds that they raise in large part from the community. The Club has no surplus funds or large endowment. The safety of the children entrusted to their care is of paramount importance to the Club. Mr. Chester’s allegations were painful and horrifying to the Boys & Girls Clubs. The administration and the Board of Directors took Mr. Chester’s allegations very seriously. They reviewed every piece of information he provided, including the information that he put on his web site. Having looked at all of this information and having conducted its own investigation, the Club simply cannot find any basis to credit his claims and indeed, there is much to undercut the claims that he makes. In such a circumstance, it would be a violation of the Club’s fiduciary responsibility to its children, its donors and to its employees to pay your client simply because he threatens to “go public”. In effect, he has done that already, by placing his allegations and assorted information on the web site. We both know that Mr. Chester has little, if any, chance of recovering against the Club should he choose to initiate litigation. His claims are long past the statute of limitations. Additionally, at the time of the alleged events, the charitable immunity provided institutions like the Boys & Girls Club under the statute was absolute. If he chooses to make this a public issue he will only succeed in harming the children who need the Club today. If he chooses to do so, the Club will vigorously defend its reputation.

If you feel that further discussion of Mr. Chester’s issues would be helpful, please do not hesitate to call me.


Sincerely,

[signed]

Judith A. Malone
JAM:cgr
cc: Linda Whitlock

After reading this letter, it appeared that the Club was demanding eyewitness corroboration as the only acceptable form of proof. If I was going to succeed in finding an eyewitness, I had to get the word out so that people who knew about the crime might contact me. But first, friends convinced me to contact the Club and tell them how I intended to proceed before I did anything. On December 21, I contacted Attorney Malone by mail.