Scout Leader Accused of Molesting Boy at Camp : Crime: Arrest is made after 11-year-old calls parents during outing at beach. Officers checking possible other incidents.

DANA POINT —  A Cub Scout leader with a group of boys at Doheny State Beach was arrested on suspicion of molestation after an 11-year-old Dana Point Scout called his parents and said he had been fondled, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Monday.

After interviewing the boy, deputies arrested Gary Lee Gephart, 39, of Oceanside, an assistant Cub Scout leader for Dana Point Cub Scout Pack 713, who was supervising the outing at the time of the alleged molestation, said Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Martini.

The arrest was made Thursday after the boy told his parents he had been fondled by his Scoutmaster while the two shared a tent, according to Martini.

“Right now, we’re looking at some possible other victims who we believe he may have been involved with in other areas, possibly Pomona involving another Scout and maybe a victim in the state of Indiana,” Martini said.

Martini said investigators believe there may be unreported incidents dating back to the 1980s.

Gephart was among adults who accompanied a small group of Webelos, a transition group from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, on a three-day camp-out at Doheny. The event was described by a Scouting spokesman as an end-of-school graduation outing for the boys, who range in age from 9 to 11.

The alleged molestation victim had shared a tent with the suspect and several other boys on the camping trip.

Devon Dougherty, spokesman for the Boy Scout Council of Orange County, said there are no formal rules against adults sharing tents with Scouts, although that type of sleeping arrangement is not recommended.

“We understand there may have been other boys with the victim and this individual,” Dougherty said. “The tent wasn’t two-man, but was a large tent.”

Dougherty said Gephart was removed immediately from the program after the arrest.

“We followed our youth protection guidelines that once an allegation is made, the adult is removed,” Dougherty said. “There were other parents involved with the unit who were then put in charge.”

The Boy Scout Council has adopted a screening procedure for leaders, and Dougherty said there was nothing to suggest that Gephart might be unsuitable.

“Within the legal ground we are held to, we can do background checks,” Dougherty said. “We’ve done everything within our legal ground to check on this individual and there was nothing to indicate” any problem.

The screening process consists of parents identifying their leaders, whose names are then screened on a national list kept by the Boy Scouts of America national office in Irving, Tex. The list includes people who “would be suspect or not an appropriate leader of the Boy Scouts of America,” he said.

Gephart was arrested on suspicion of molestation and was taken to Orange County Jail. His bail was set at $250,000. He could not be reached for comment Monday and it wasn’t immediately known whether he has an attorney.

Gephart’s arraignment is tentatively scheduled for July 6 at Municipal Court in Laguna Niguel.