ABUSE ALLEGED IN SCOUTS’ GROUP (Study: 12 teens were hurt)

At least a dozen teenagers assigned to work with police departments as part of the Boy Scouts' Law Enforcement Explorers program have allegedly been sexually abused by officers during the past year.  At least 25 in the past five years, according to criminologists' research being released today.

Among recent cases:

--Officer Keith Maynard, 31, was charged with two counts of statutory rape and two counts of aggravated child molestation.  He is accused of having sex with a 15 year old girl in the program.  The East Ridge, Tennessee police department suspended its Explorer program and Maynard is awaiting trial.

(East Ridge, Tennessee)

--Former police officer John Ross Ewing, 28, was indicted by a grand jury in March on charges that he sexually assaulted two male Explorer scouts, ages 15 and 16, at his apartment.

(Haltom City, Texas)

--Freddie Lee Johnson, 34, pleaded guilty in April to having sex with a 16 year old girl on a scout-related camping trip.  He was sentenced to 60 weekends in jail.

(San Bernardino, California)

--David Kalish, a candidate for Los Angeles police chief last year, is named in a lawsuit by a former Explorer, alleging him of sexually abusing him while in the program during the 1970s.  Kalish, 49, has been suspended as deputy chief, pending grand jury action.

(Los Angeles)

Law Enforcement Explorers is a co-ed program affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America.