Former Boy Scout leader indicted for sexual assault

An indictment, information, or complaint is merely an allegation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Attorney General Peter F. Neronha and Colonel Darnell S. Weaver announced today that the Statewide Grand Jury has returned an indictment charging a former local Boy Scout leader with sexually assaulting a juvenile male victim between 1982 and 1984 in Central Falls.

On August 25, 2023, the Statewide Grand Jury returned a secret indictment charging Michael Chalk (age 61) of Pawtucket, with two counts of first-degree sexual assault.

That same day, the secret indictment was unsealed, and the defendant was arraigned in Providence County Superior Court.

As alleged in the indictment, the charges against the defendant stem from assaults that took place in Central Falls between 1982 and 1984 against a male victim who was 13 years of age or younger.

In court, the State alleged that at the time of the assault, the defendant was an adult leader in a local Boy Scout troop in Central Falls, and the victim was a youth member of the local troop. It was further alleged that the assaults took place at St. Matthew’s Church, where the Boy Scout troop held their meetings.

In 1999, the defendant was tried and convicted of several counts of first-degree child molestation and sexual assault against three minor male victims and sentenced to serve 20 years at the ACI followed by a 20-year suspended sentence. The victims were also members of the Boy Scouts.

The defendant is scheduled for a pre-trial conference on October 26, 2023, in Providence County Superior Court.

Corporal Kyle Draper of the Rhode Island State Police and Special Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Burke of the Office of the Attorney General are leading the investigation and prosecution of the case.