When James France heard the news of the recent arrest of Frank Selas, his former scoutmaster at St. Mary¡¯s International School in Tokyo, on child sex abuse charges in the U.S., he was not shocked. Instead, he felt a mix of regret and curiosity.

¡°I found myself wanting to know exactly what he had done. What did he actually do to the kids?¡± he says. ¡°I wanted to know because we were in close proximity to this person, and I think I wanted to know how potentially bad it could have been. It¡¯s like knowing that you were just diving in the proximity of a great white without realizing it.¡±

Selas, aka Frank Szeles, who was a fourth-grade teacher at the Catholic boys¡¯ school from 1970 until 1972, had been on the run for 37 years when he was finally taken into custody at his home in Bonita, California, on Jan. 25.