FOX 32 NEWS
In the decades since convicted pedophile and former south suburban scoutmaster Thomas Hacker went to prison, no one had ever questioned him about what he calls his addiction to young boys or his crimes. That is, until three weeks ago, when Christopher T. Hurley went down to lawyers handling the civil lawsuit against the Boy Scouts had their first chance to question him. They talked for over four hours, and the stories were chilling.
Hacker described using his position as a volunteer scoutmaster to gain a boy’s trust, and then as he says, groom them for abuse.
“You know, psychological manipulation,” he said. He became more than a friend. “Confidante, builder upper, whatever you want to call it, esteem builder; a lot of grooming techniques there; let them feel comfortable with you.”
“What’s interesting about Mr. Hacker is how persuasive he can be, so even as you’re sitting there questioning him, he’s telling you things that you know aren’t true, and you’re tempted to believe him,” Hurley says. “So you can see how parents got victimized, and especially how kids got victimized.”
