Ex-Scoutmaster faces more abuse charges

A former Spokane Valley Scoutmaster who was convicted of grooming a 14-year-old Boy Scout for sex in 2003 is to be arraigned Tuesday on a charge that he had similarly abused another boy a year earlier.

Ralph E. “Ray” Willcox Jr., 58, was arrested Monday on a first-degree child molestation charge filed Jan. 30. Court documents say Willcox molested a boy in the summer of 2002, when the boy was 9.

That was a year before Willcox molested a 14-year-old boy and pleaded guilty to communication with a minor for immoral purposes in 2003. Willcox got a one-year suspended jail sentence and two years of probation in the 2003 case.

The 9-year-old who allegedly was molested in 2002 didn’t agree to talk to a sheriff’s detective until last month at age 14.

In both cases, according to court documents, Willcox frequently invited the boys into his Otis Orchards home on Garry Road, where he touched them and encouraged them to reciprocate.

The boy Willcox abused in 2003 said he and Willcox sat in the same chair while Willcox tickled him, fondled him and talked about sperm, according to court documents.

That boy told his parents, and his father confronted Willcox. Court documents say the father successfully demanded that Willcox resign from a position “which allowed him access to children.”

The records don’t say what that position was, but Inland Northwest Boy Scout Director Tim McCandless said the father also contacted Scouting officials, and Willcox was immediately removed as Scoutmaster of Troop 413.

McCandless said his records indicated the molestation occurred in a hotel room during a trip unrelated to Scouting.

Boy Scout records don’t show how long Willcox was a Scoutmaster, but court records say the 2003 victim had known Willcox for three or four years.

In addition to forcing Willcox out of the Boy Scouts, the boy’s father persuaded Willcox to seek Christian counseling. Court documents say leaders of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane reported Willcox’s admissions to the Sheriff’s Office when he requested sex-offender counseling.

“When it was reported to me, I immediately reported it to the police,” the Rev. Steve Dublinski, vicar general of the diocese, said in an interview Friday. “Reporting child abuse is part of our normal operation.”

Dublinski said Willcox was a parishioner but had no other role in the diocese. However, Boy Scout Troop 413 is sponsored by the Catholic Knights of Columbus and draws most of its members from two Spokane Valley parishes: St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s.

McCandless was unable to determine whether the alleged victim in the newly filed charge was a Scout.

The boy told Detective David Skogen that Willcox encouraged him to go naked in Willcox’s basement while Willcox wore a bathrobe with nothing underneath in the summer of 2002. The boy said Willcox exposed himself and fondled him on several occasions, according to court documents.

Willcox told the boy not to tell his parents about the nude encounters, and he didn’t until last month, Skogen said in a court affidavit. Skogen said the boy’s mother had been suspicious of Willcox since the summer of 2003, when Skogen contacted her while investigating the case in which Willcox molested the older boy.

Skogen said Willcox’s wife at the time now says she also was suspicious of the attention Willcox paid to the younger boy in the summer of 2002.

The ex-wife will testify that she questioned Willcox about the younger boy in 2003 when he was charged with abusing the older boy, and Willcox admitted abusing the younger boy, according to Skogen.