More child-sex victims are emerging in the case of Burnsville scoutmaster Peter Stibal II, police say.
Stibal was charged Oct. 21 with six counts of first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly molesting three boys in Troop 650, which meets at River Hills United Methodist Church in Burnsville.
PHOTO: Peter Stibal II
Since the news broke, the case has become “just a huge investigation,” Burnsville police Sgt. Jef Behnken said.
“We are definitely finding more victims out there,” Behnken said. “It’s in the two to five range on top of the three he was originally charged with.”
Police detective Jeff Pfaff has been fielding calls and scheduling interviews, Behnken said.
Stibal, 44, remains in the Dakota County Jail on bail of $500,000 with conditions and $1 million without. He was arrested Oct. 19 in Stearns County, where he has a cabin.
“We’ve stopped the conduct now with Mr. Stibal,” Behnken said. Police may send more cases to the county attorney in coming weeks.
Current charges involve alleged incidents from 2002 to 2008. Stibal, a Burnsville resident who graduated from Burnsville High School and earned his Eagle Scout award in Troop 650, was assistant scoutmaster from 2000 to 2003 and scoutmaster from 2003 until his removal on Oct. 16 by the Northern Star Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
One of the three boys brought his allegations to Burnsville police earlier this month. At that point, the Northern Star Council sent a letter to troop parents announcing Stibal’s release and a Monday, Oct. 19, parent meeting on the case, Behnken said.
The two additional boys came forward between the time the letter was received and the meeting was held, Behnken said.
“It really took the one kid to have the courage to come forward, which kind of opened the doors for the other kids to come forward,” Behnken said.
Although Stibal had some past contact with children through Mary, Mother of the Church and as a school bus driver, continuing investigations focus on the Boy Scouts, Behnken said.
‘Weird and odd’
Stibal routinely violated the Boy Scouts’ “two-deep” policy, which requires at least two adult leaders to be present around boys, said Cathy Gregg, a former assistant scoutmaster in Connecticut who later held a committee position with Troop 650 from around 2003 to 2005.
Stibal sometimes took Scouts on trips – movies, bowling, the State Fair – outside of normal scouting functions, Gregg said.
“I just thought he was weird and odd,” said Gregg, who raised a nephew, now 21, who was a member of Troop 650. “Scoutmasters are not supposed to take kids alone. It’s odd. It’s strange.”
Her nephew was among those who spent time with Stibal outside of Scouts, Gregg said.
“I never thought that (sexual misconduct) was going on,” she said. “It never crossed my mind. Because I told my kid, ‘You don’t let anybody touch you.’ And I always made sure they were going as a group. They went to the State Fair with Pete. He was really good to him.”
Accounts of the three boys leveling charges against Stibal detailed alleged sex crimes at Stibal’s cabin near Paynesville, at his home at 624 Portland Mews, at Boy Scout camps in Stearns County and Hubbard County, at a movie theater in Eagan and at a drive-in theater in Cottage Grove.
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