Offender will return to state
Man who pleaded guilty to sodomy in N.Y. runs Colo. firm
By Carol Kreck
Denver Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - A part-time Colorado resident who pleaded guilty to repeatedly sodomizing a Boy Scout in New York is being allowed to return to Colorado for the summer to resume running a tour business for Scouts and students.
Jerrold Schwartz, 42, former scoutmaster of a New York City troop, pleaded guilty last week in New York to the sodomy charge.

He was allowed to remain free on $25,000 bail and travel to Colorado, where he is president of Adventure Trails Inc.

Schwartz could get from 22/3 to eight years in prison, according to Sherry Hunter, spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney's office. Sentencing is scheduled in August. Schwartz asked to serve his sentence in Colorado.

Schwartz was scoutmaster of Troop 666 based at a church in New York City. He pleaded guilty to four counts of deviant sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old boy from September to December 1996.

The victim was 12 when the abuse began, according to attorney Paul Mones, who is involved in a $150 million civil suit on the young man's behalf. A New York prosecutor said Schwartz even assaulted the boy on Schwartz's wedding day.

Mones said the Boy Scouts investigated Schwartz in 1993 for molestation accusations but found they had no validity, and Schwartz continued to work with the Scouts.

Since stories about Schwartz appeared in New York newspapers, four more victims have come forward, Mones said. The statute of limitations has run out on three cases. A fourth young man is being represented by Mones.

Schwartz is president of New York- and Colorado Springs-based Adventure Trails Inc., which was established in 1980. The business added the Colorado Springs division in 1991. Its website says the business includes trips for Boy Scouts to the Air Force Academy and Garden of the Gods before transportation to the Philmont Scout Ranch.

The Boy Scout Council based in Colorado Springs could not be reached Tuesday to say whether it is using the tour company.

In the Northeast, Adventure Trails says it runs tours in Washington, D.C., Boston and Philadelphia, and ski programs.

Calls to Charles Fogelnest, Schwartz's New York attorney, weren't returned.

A woman who answered the phone at Adventure Trails' Colorado Springs office said Tuesday, "This is a business; I'm extremely busy and I have no comment."

"Adventure Trails has provided thousands of Scouts over the years with unforgettable memories and experiences," says its website, which was updated Monday.

New York state Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon, who accepted Schwartz's guilty plea, said he would have to register as a sex offender in New York.

He's required to do the same in Colorado within five days of his arrival or face arrest, said Bob Armstrong, an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.