Secret Scoutmaster Abuse
The horror story of Charles “Jack” Walls III is one that lives on in infamy. Those who initially knew him in Lonoke, Arkansas respected him for his accomplishments: revered community member, Lonoke’s “Man of the Year,” and Scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts of America for 22 years.
However, over 100 terrified boys knew Walls as the man who violently molested and raped them on Scouting trips. For over two decades Walls used his position in the BSA to sexually prey on children, a secret he forced them to keep through violence and death threats.
Reports from victims reveal Walls sexually abused children through violent acts including:
- Rape
- Molestation
- Group sex
- Soliciting children to take pornographic images of himself or taking pornographic images of children
- Forcing children to watch or read pornographic material
- Performing oral sex on children or forcing children to perform oral sex on him
- Fondling
Over the years Walls befriended parents and their children, earning a reputation as a trustworthy Scoutmaster and friend. In fact, many parents in Lonoke turned to Walls for guidance when their sons were disobeying. Walls became a father-figure to many boys in the community, some turning to him over their own parents.
Walls took hundreds of Boy Scouts in Lonoke out on camping trips at his family farm, letting them go hunting and have camp outs. Walls groomed children for sex by granting them special favors and giving them access to porn, weapons, and alcohol. Some sources even note Walls took detailed notes about boys’ lives, what they were missing, and their interests, all to exploit them.
Order of the Arrow Sexual Abuse
Little did these boys know that Jack Walls used the “special” camping trips to select his next victims. From these camp-outs Walls would select a special few to join his “Order of the Arrow,” which required a sexual initiation.
“Initiation meant you had sex with Jack,” said one of Walls’ victims in an report by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “We got alcohol – all that we wanted – dirty books, we got to shoot guns. …We masturbated together – group masturbation – oral sex on each other and on Jack, and Jack on us…and sometimes Jack provided us with a whore.”
On these Order of the Arrow trips Walls would get boys drunk and use this vulnerability to molest, fondle, and rape boys. He even made Scouts perform sexual acts on each other as he watched. Police estimate Walls abused over 150 boys during his time leading Boy Scout Troop 103.
According to his victims’ testimonies, Walls threatened to kill anyone who told of their abuse. He taunted them with lies, saying that no one would ever believe them if they told. In one case he forced children to dig a hole in the ground and said it would be their grave if they ever spoke out against him.
“He put my son in a hole at a dumpsite,” one victim’s father said. “He threw dirt on him and said, ‘This is what’s going to happen to you if you tell.’”
Heath Stocks Sexual Abuse
Walls destroyed the lives of over one hundred children in a thirty-year span. One victim in particular shows how horrifying Walls’ abuse was on his victims. Heath Stocks, a member of Walls’ Boy Scout troop, was sexually and psychologically abused by Walls to the point where he convinced Stocks to murder his entire family.
“He was probably the worst pedophile in Arkansas history to use the Boy Scouts to groom and prey on kids,” Stocks said in an interview with KARK News. “I was arrested for crimes that happened solely because I had tried to end my abuse.”
For years prior to the murders, Stocks had a difficult relationship with father, Joe Stocks. This rift was largely due to Walls, who exploited the strained relationship to create deep trust issues between the father and son. Stocks says Walls abused him hundreds of times from as early as nine years old and up until the age of 20 when he was arrested for killing his family.
According to witness testimony, Barbara Stocks, Heath Stocks’ mother, discovered Jack Walls assaulting Stocks in his bedroom. Barbara proceeded to tell her mother and her pastor about what she witnessed. Upon confronting him about the abuse, Stocks confessed to both his mother and his younger sister Heather, recounting what Walls had done to him and other boys for decades.
It was after that confession that Stocks said he made “one of the greatest mistakes of [his] life.”
Stocks Family Murders
After admitting to his mother and sister of the abuse, Stocks told Walls that his secret was out. Furious, Walls insisted Stocks needed to “kill the problem.” From a young age Walls had allegedly conditioned Stocks “to kill people,” teaching him how to shoot at human targets.
On January 17, 1997, Stokes killed his mother, father, and little sister in their family home in Lonoke. This was nine days after his mother witnessed Walls abusing Stocks.
Before their murders, Stocks says he tried to take his own life, placing the barrel of a .45-calibar automatic in his mouth multiple times, But, he “couldn’t pull the trigger.” Stocks was arrested and pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, sentenced to life in prison.
Walls’ involvement in the Stocks family’s murders did not come to light until two months later when one of Walls’ victims, 16 at the time, broke the nearly 30-year long silence. The victim, who had been abused by Walls since he was seven years old, saw Walls grooming his younger brother for sexual favors.
“I knew he was going to be next and I wasn’t going to let that happen,” the boy said. “I used to get stuff like that all the time and they thought it was cool.”
The boy put a gun to Walls’ head and marched him at gunpoint to his neighbor’s home, where the boy’s parents were visiting. He forced Walls to tell his parents what Walls had done to boys for decades, and the predator Scoutmaster confessed to the sexual abuse.
Jack Walls is now serving a life sentence in east Arkansas for his crimes, convicted for five counts of rape and a plea of no contest for Stocks’ rape. His conviction came down after Stocks was arrested and pleaded guilty to killing his family.
Widespread Scouting Abuse
Stocks is a now a client of Abused in Scouting (AIS), which represents over 4,500 victims of Scouting abuse across the United States. Like other Scouting abuse survivors, Stocks his seeking to hold the BSA accountable for their part in letting sexual predators into the organization and, in many cases, covering their tracks.
“This is a history of abuse that goes back to the very beginning… I think it’s very important for us as a society to look at what happens to kids — you know — broken kids grow up to be broken adults,” Stocks says.
Hidden BSA files show that the youth organization hid reports of sexual abuse since its founding in 1910, tucking away countless sexual abuse reports in what they called “Red Files.” Rarely did any of these cases get reported to local authorities, the BSA letting thousands of sexual abusers like Walls escape punishment-free.
Currently the BSA faces several thousand lawsuits from former Boy Scouts, each alleging they were sexually abused by Scoutmasters and BSA volunteers. Due to the growing litigation, the BSA filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in February 2020 and seeks to form a compensation plan for victims of Scouting abuse.
For more information about Heath Stocks' story, visit www.heathstocks.info.