Ex-scoutmaster on trial, accused of boys’ assault

Published 1:39 pm Monday, April 25, 2011

HASTINGS, Minn. (AP) — A former Burnsville scoutmaster goes on trial Monday on charges of assaulting four juvenile boys.

Forty-five-year-old Peter Stibal is charged in Dakota County District Court with molesting the scouts between 2002 and 2008. Stibal is also charged with possessing child pornography.

A judge has denied Stibal’s request to have some of his statements to police suppressed and to have full access to the boys’ medical and counseling records about the allegations.

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Years before Stibal was arrested, some parents in Burnsville learned Stibal had been alone with scouts at his cabin, at his home, at a drive-in theater and in his truck. That violates Boy Scout rules which require two adults present during scout activities. The Star Tribune says troop leaders admonished Stibal for violating the policy, but never reported it to superiors.