Offender may return to state Man who pleaded guilty to sodomy in N.Y. runs Colo. firm

By Carol Kreck
The Denver Post
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 2 2/3 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.