Former Boy Scout leader charged with sexually assaulting boys in his troop

Michael Chalk, 61, who is a registered sex offender, was indicted by a statewide grand jury on new charges of sexually assaulting a juvenile male victim in the early 1980s in Central Falls, R.I.

PROVIDENCE — A former Scout leader who served time for molesting three Boy Scouts decades ago was charged Friday with sexually assaulting a fourth Boy Scout.

Michael Chalk, 61, who is a registered sex offender, was indicted on new charges of sexually assaulting a juvenile male victim in the early 1980s in Central Falls, R.I.

Michael B. Chalk, 61, of Pawtucket, R.I., is a Level 3 registered sex offender.R.I. Sex Offender Registry

Chalk was the leader of a Boy Scout troop in Central Falls that held its meetings at St. Matthew’s Church. He is alleged to have molested one of the boys who was under 14 years old multiple times between 1982 and 1984 at that church, according to the secret indictment handed down by a statewide grand jury. After the indictment was unsealed, Chalk was arraigned in Providence County Superior Court.

In 1999, Chalk, then 37, was convicted of sexual assault and molestation of three Boy Scouts. One of the assaults occurred when he molested a 14-year-old boy inside a tent with seven other Scouts at Camp Yawgood in Hopkinton, a 1,800-acre recreation area that attracts several hundred scouts from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, and other states each year. He was sentenced to serve 20 years at the Adult Correctional Institution, followed by a 20-year suspended sentence.

A 25-year member of the Boy Scouts of America and leader of an East Providence troop for five years, Chalk was sentenced in 2001 for second-degree sexual assault on a 16-year-old boy during a sleepover at a friend’s house in 1984 in Pawtucket.

Chalk also worked as a youth-care counselor for children at Harmony Hill House, which was a residential group home for troubled boys in Gloucester, R.I. He was convicted of assaulting a 15-year-old resident.

Of the charges Chalk was convicted of in 1999, he testified that none had occurred, according to a Providence Journal report at the time. He had testified that the 14-year-old Boy Scout was upset because Chalk had disciplined him at camp earlier on the day of the assault and that the 15-year-old group home victim was trying to get back at him. He also testified that the 16-year-old boy was upset because Chalk told his parents he smoked marijuana.

Chalk is expected back in court on Oct. 26. Corporal Kyle Draper of the Rhode Island State Police and Special Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Burke are leading the investigation and prosecution of the case.

This article has been updated with additional details about the assaults for which Chalk has been convicted in the past.