James Adams (1954 – ) was a Mormon church member in Beckley, West Virginia; sentenced to prison in 1994 for sexually abusing multiple children; in 1996, a $750 million lawsuit was filed against the Mormon church alleging coverup; the suit was settled out of court in 2000.
Abuse went on for five years after Adams first told Mormon officials, including a bishop and stake president, the lawsuit said
"The church is not in the business of covering up."
— Church spokesman Don LeFevre

James Adams was a Mormon church member in the Beckley, West Virginia area in the 1990s.

A case was filed against Adams in Raleigh County Circuit Court in Beckley, WV in January, 1996.

Adams’s stake president Blair Meldrum was accused of covering up sexual abuse.

FLOODLIT is cleaning up this case report; the notes below come from various sources.

“Adams was an “Ordained Elder” who sexually abused his own children, even forcing them to make pornography which was confiscated by the state police. The suit seeks $750 million dollars from the LDS Church and other defendants. The mother who brought the case is identified only as Rebecca Doe. She alleges that LDS Church leaders had known about the abuse since 1989 but did nothing about it until Adam’s arrest in 1994 (FIVE YEARS later).. Adams was sentenced to 76 to 185 years in prison. In 1997, the LDS Church sought removal to the United States District Court in Charleston, WV, claiming a federal question jurisdiction. In the fall, the federal court declined to accept jurisdiction and sent it back to state court. Also in the fall of 1997, the West Virginia Supreme Court, in a 4-1 decision, upheld a trial court ruling that prevented plaintiff’s from serving subpoenas on Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley and other high officials and from seeking detailed statements of LDS Church assets on the grounds they were too “oppressive and burdensome” on the Church. The father first told several Mormon ward leader and members in Beckley that he was abusing his children in 1989.” according to the

Houston Chronicle May 08, 1999 article by Paul McKay “Mormons Caught up in Wave of Pedophile Accusations. The children were abused for 6 years and the father is serving a prison term totaling 173 years!”

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Sources

  1. Mormon Leaders in West Virginia Accused in Suit on Child Abuse , New York Times , January 17, 1996.
  2. MOM AND GIRL FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST THE LDS CHURCH, Deseret News, January 17, 1996.
  3. Blame the Victim: Hushing Mormon Sexual Abuse , Affirmation, April 10, 1996.
  4. LDS Church, hospital settle child-abuse case out of court , Deseret News, March 28, 2000.
  5. Adams, James F, West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, March 15, 2025.

  • 1. Mormon Leaders in West Virginia Accused in Suit on Child Abuse

    • 19960117
    • News article
    • New York Times

    A lawsuit filed today accuses local Mormon leaders of contributing to the repeated sexual abuse of two children by failing to report it to the authorities.

    In 1989, the children's father, James Adams, told at least three prominent members of the church in the town of Beckley, W.Va., that he had abused his daughter, then 4, and son, then 8, said Michael Sullivan, a lawyer for the children's mother, Mr. Adams's former wife.

    But, despite a state law that requires clerics, teachers and health care providers to report suspected child abuse to the authorities, the church never notified them, Mr. Sullivan said. The silence, he added, cost the children an additional five years of sexual mistreatment. Mr. Adams is already awaiting criminal trial in the case.

    "This is a prime example of an organization hijacked by its own success," Mr. Sullivan said. "When confronted with evidence of sexual abuse, the church closed ranks in a conspiracy of silence to protect its own reputation at the expense of these children."

    Don LeFevre, a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said church officials had not seen the lawsuit, which seeks $750 million, and could not comment specifically on the case.

    "The church is not in the business of covering up," Mr. LeFevre said. "We teach our members to obey the law."

    The lawsuit was filed in Raleigh County Circuit Court in Beckley for the children's mother, identified only as Rebecca Doe of Alaska, on behalf of her daughter, who is now 11. A separate lawsuit will be filed on behalf of her son, Mr. Sullivan said.

    At the time the lawsuit says the abuse occurred, Mr. Adams had custody of the children. His former wife later regained custody.

    Mr. Adams was arrested in February 1994 after the state police had learned from his former wife that a 55-minute videotape had been made of the children being sexually assaulted. He is in prison awaiting trial after withdrawing a previous guilty plea.

    Mr. Sullivan said that among the several church members to whom Mr. Adams had reported the abuse was his father, James Adams Sr., the bishop of the Beckley congregation.

    "He wanted to be stopped," Mr. Sullivan said. "I don't think you have to be a psychologist to figure that out. Had anyone done anything to persuade this fellow to get help in 1989, he was probably quite willing to do it."

    But, Mr. Sullivan said, the church's only response was to provide Mr. Adams monthly visits from two counselors for six months.

    Mr. Adams pleaded guilty in June 1994 to a 37-count indictment and was sentenced to at least 75 years in prison. He was allowed to withdraw his plea last fall, however, and is to stand trial in the criminal case on April 29. An assistant Raleigh County prosecutor, Kristen Keller, said she had agreed to let him withdraw his plea because a trial could bring a longer prison sentence.

  • 2. MOM AND GIRL FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST THE LDS CHURCH

    • 19960117
    • News article
    • Deseret News

    An 11-year-old girl and her mother announced Tuesday they are filing a $750 million lawsuit against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, alleging that it ignores its own guidelines on how to stop continuing child sexual abuse.

    Their lawyer, Michael Sullivan, in a National Press Club press conference called to attract national attention, said church leaders knew about sexual abuse of the girl - listed only as "Jane Doe" in complaints that would be filed in West Virginia on Tuesday - and allowed it to continue for five years."We want to make the church change the way it does business. We want them to recognize the present system isn't working," Sullivan said.

    Church spokesman Don Le-Fevre said the church had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment specifically on the case. "The church is not in the business of covering up," LeFevre told the Associated Press. "We teach our members to obey the law."

    The suit charges that church bishops, stake presidents, church social workers and others knew about abuse by James F. Adams of Beckley, W.Va., beginning after a divorce in 1989, when he confessed it to them after a baby sitter threatened to expose abuse reported by children unless he paid her $20,000.

    The suit says church officials helped Adams obtain counseling but did not seek to separate him from his children (which it says church guidelines call for) - and did not report the abuse to state officials as required by West Virginia law.

    It said the officials instead ordained Adams as an elder in the church and allowed him to marry in its Washington Temple in April 1990 despite such problems.

    The new wife divorced Adams two years later and reported that the children told her Adams was abusing them. Later, the suit says, Adams videotaped himself abusing the children.

    After his first wife called police when the second wife told her about the abuse, Adams pleaded guilty to abuse charges and was sentenced to 75 to 187 years in prison.

    However, the suit says Adams later was granted a new trial by contending he was influenced by church officials to plead guilty "so as not to embarrass the church" and to suppress evidence.

    The suit alleges the church deviated from its "own guidelines for dealing with sex offenders and by suppressing evidence of sexual abuse of and by LDS Church members (and) ratified the father's conduct and granted him tacit approval of his continuing sexual abuse."

    Sullivan also said, "This is not an isolated case for the Mormon Church. The church has been sued in other cases around the country for the failure to report the sexual abuse of children. These cases have resulted in secret settlements by which the church paid millions of dollars to the victims of pedophilia."

    He added that he does not expect to settle with the church because his clients want to publicize and expose alleged problems. "This case is about making huge institutions and the people who work for them aware of their responsibilities to the victims of sexual abuse," he said.

    Mother and daughter sued the church, members of its First Presidency, the president of its Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the church's presiding bishop, as well as a hospital where a church official worked. The suit alleges the hospital official did not report Adams' abuse or his stealing of drugs from the hospital.

  • 3. Blame the Victim: Hushing Mormon Sexual Abuse

    • 19960410
    • News article
    • Affirmation

  • 4. LDS Church, hospital settle child-abuse case out of court

    • 20000328
    • News article
    • Deseret News

    BECKLEY, W.Va. (AP) -- Lawyers for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Raleigh General Hospital have settled a $750 million child abuse case out of court.

    The lawsuit accused the LDS Church of failing to report a case of child sexual abuse involving a church member in West Virginia.The trial was scheduled to begin next week in Raleigh County Circuit Court.

    Raleigh County Circuit Judge H.L. Kirkpatrick on Monday said the hospital and the church informed him late last week they had settled with the plaintiff for an undisclosed amount of money.

    Terms of the agreement will be presented for Kirkpatrick's approval at a summary proceeding on April 6.

    James Adams, a member of the LDS Church, pleaded guilty in 1994 to 37 counts of sexually abusing his daughter and son. He was sentenced to 130 years in prison.

    The lawsuit filed on the daughter's behalf alleges Blair Meldrum, who oversees 12 area LDS congregations, knew the abuse was occurring but conspired with other church officials, including former Raleigh General Hospital Administrator Ken Holt, to keep it secret.

    In addition to being a church official, Holt was Adams' employer. Other hospital employees also were told of the abuse, but no one reported it, the lawsuit said.

    William E. Watson, legal counsel for the church in the suit, said all parties were satisfied with the out-of-court settlement.

    "Raleigh General Hospital and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints specifically deny any wrongdoing or liability for the claims. From the outset, the church and the hospital have desired to assist the minor child, and this agreement provides the means to accomplish that objective. It also pays the expenses which she has incurred," Watson said in a statement Tuesday.

  • 5. Adams, James F

    • 20250315
    • Other
    • West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation

    Adams, James F
    Offender ID (OID) Number: 3569855
    Name: Adams, James F
    Sex: Male
    Birth Date: [redacted by FLOODLIT]/1954
    Height: 6' 1"
    Weight: 190 lbs.
    Race: White
    Location: MOCC
    Intake Date: 9/29/1995 9:00:00 AM
    Next Parole Hearing: 2/12/2070
    Maximum Parole Discharge Date: Not Available
    Projected Release Date: 8/13/2086

    Court Order List
    Sentencing County Order Date Order Number Offense(s)
    Raleigh 8/4/1994 94-F-61

    Sexual Abuse In The First Degree.
    Sexual Abuse In The First Degree.
    Sexual Abuse In The First Degree.
    Sexual Abuse In The First Degree.
    Sexual Abuse In The First Degree.
    Sexual Abuse By Parent, Guardian, Custodian Or Other Person In Position Of Trust To A Child
    Sexual Abuse By Parent, Guardian, Custodian Or Other Person In Position Of Trust To A Child
    Sexual Abuse By Parent, Guardian, Custodian Or Other Person In Position Of Trust To A Child
    Sexual Abuse By Parent, Guardian, Custodian Or Other Person In Position Of Trust To A Child
    Sexual Assault In The First Degree.
    Photographing Minors In Sexually Explicit Conduct
    Sexual Assault In The Third Degree.
    Sexual Assault In The Third Degree.
    Sexual Assault In The Third Degree.
    Regular - Sexual Assault In The Third Degree.
    Sexual Abuse By Parent, Guardian, Custodian Or Other Person In Position Of Trust To A Child
    Sexual Abuse By Parent, Guardian, Custodian Or Other Person In Position Of Trust To A Child
    Sexual Abuse By Parent, Guardian, Custodian Or Other Person In Position Of Trust To A Child
    Sexual Abuse By Parent, Guardian, Custodian Or Other Person In Position Of Trust To A Child
    Sexual Abuse By Parent, Guardian, Custodian Or Other Person In Position Of Trust To A Child
    Photographing Minors In Sexually Explicit Conduct
    Sexual Assault In The Third Degree.
    Sexual Assault In The Third Degree.
    Sexual Assault In The Third Degree.
    Distribution And Exhibiting Of Material Depicting
    Sexual Assault In The Third Degree.
    Incest
    Sexual Assault In The Third Degree.
    Incest
    Incest
    Incest
    Incest
    Incest
    Sexual Assault In The First Degree.
    Sexual Assault In The First Degree.

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Timeline

  • 1954
    Born

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