Criminal checks

According to the Akron Beacon Journal, officials at the Scioto Youth Camp in Perry County, Ohio and Fairfield Christian Church in Lancaster, Ohio are pointing fingers at each other over a volunteer camp counselor accused of inappropriately touching three young boys at a church camp.

The camp officials say that they didn’t do a background check on Timothy Stephen Keil because “his church, Fairfield Christian Church, told them Keil had already passed a background check there to become a Sunday school volunteer.” The people at the camp didn’t think a second background check was needed.

Meanwhile church officials said they ran a background check, but couldn’t locate it in their files. When they asked the company that runs their background checks to review their records, it turned out that no one ran a background check on Keil.

Keil is now accused of molesting three young boys at the camp. He was previously convicted in Pennsylvania on the charge of corruption of a minor.

There’s a real simple lesson here. Do your own background checks. Nobody else’s background check is your background check. Only your background check is your background check.