Arraignment set for Sept. 9

By Lauren McSherry, Town Crier Staff Writer

Gregory Allen Wagner

A Los Altos resident who has been a Boy Scout leader in the community for more than 20 years was arrested Thursday morning at his home on charges of child molestation. Gregory Allen Wagner posted $200,000 bail Friday and will be arraigned Sept. 9.

Wagner has been charged on four counts: lewd act on a child under 14, continuous molestation of a child, distributing harmful material (pornography) to a child and lewd act on a child. The victim, who is in his 20s and no longer lives in the area, stepped forward three weeks ago, setting off the investigation, said Detective Deborah Johnson of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.

Since the start of the investigation, several alleged victims, who were Scouts under Wagner’s authority, have come forward, Johnson said.

During his time as a leader for Boy Scouts of America from the early 1980s until Thursday, when he was dismissed, Wagner had contact with hundreds of young boys in Los Altos Troop 31, which has long met at the Union Presbyterian Church on University Avenue.

“We’d be pretty naïve to think there weren’t (more victims),” Sheriff’s Deputy Terrance Helm said. “He was a Scout master in charge of hundreds of impressionable boys.”

Wagner’s alleged unlawful contact with Scouts is believed to have occurred from 1987 to 1992, when the victims were ages 12-17 years. He allowed the sheriff’s office at the time of his arrest to take three computers from his home to be forensically analyzed.

Most of the inappropriate contact took place during Scouting trips, according to the sheriff’s office. Wagner chaperoned weekend trips in the Santa Cruz Mountains and weeklong summer camp trips in the Sierra Nevada and other parts of California.

While a scoutmaster from the mid ’80s until 1992, he was in charge of weekly meetings and service projects in addition to trips. His participation in Troop 31 dropped off in recent years.

“The last several years his involvement has been peripheral,” said John Richers, Pacific Skyline Council Scout executive who has helped in the investigation. “He has not been involved in day-to-day activities with the troop for some time.”

Wagner allegedly managed to molest boys despite the Boy Scout’s policy against one-on-one contact between Scout leaders and troop members and the presence of multiple Scout leaders on trips. Richers said the policy was adopted in the 1980s. There are 49 boys registered in Troop 31.

Wagner’s was the latest in a string of summer arrests of alleged molesters who worked locally with children.

William Giordano, a Jordan Middle School coach, was arrested Aug. 18 and charged with 28 counts of child molestation. While a teacher in the Palo Alto Unified School District, he allegedly had a sexual relationship with a female student that spanned a couple of years.

Earlier this month, Antonio “Tony” Scott Graham, also a Boy Scout leader, was arrested by Menlo Park police on four counts of child molestation. The Los Altos Hills resident taught the “Explorer Program,” an emergency first aid class, at Gunn High School. Like Wagner, Graham has been dismissed from the Boy Scouts.

The Pacific Skyline Council, a regional branch of the Boy Scouts of America, will hold a private meeting Wednesday evening for Troop 31 scouts and their parents.

“It will be a chance for us to redouble our efforts in education and give people a chance to ask questions,” Richers said. “Counseling will be provided for those who feel they would benefit from that.”

The sheriff’s office is handling the Wagner case because the crimes either occurred outside Los Altos in the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County

or in towns under its jurisdiction.

Tip line: (408) 808-4530.