was a Mormon bishop and physical education teacher in Hyrum, Cache Valley, Utah; accused in 2000 of luring a 17-year-old North Carolina girl to Utah for sex while serving as an LDS bishop; sentenced in 2001 to 21 months in federal prison

Case report

Former Mormon bishop Gordon Bodily was sentenced in 2001 to 21 months in federal prison for luring a 17-year-old North Carolina girl to Utah for sex. He was also sentenced to 24 months probation after the prison term and ordered to undergo sex offender treatment.

He was also a former high school gym teacher.

Bodily was serving as an LDS bishop at the time of his crime and and when he was arrested.

According to the sentencing report, Bodily contacted at least one other girl through the Internet.

Bodily was supported in the courtroom by his wife and children, according to the Salt Lake Tribune on 2001-03-30.

from “RANDY BISHOP HAD SEX WITH GIRL OF 15“:

“A RANDY bishop is facing 10 years in jail after admitting having steamy sex sessions with an under-age girl.

Bishop Gordon Bodily pleaded guilty to luring a 17-year-old girl to Salt Lake City to have sex with him by posing as a teenage member of the Mormon Church on the internet.

Bodily admitted meeting the North Carolina girl in February through a teen chatroom focusing on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Mormon bishop originally pretended to be a 19-year-old.

After the relationship began to include sexual conversations on the phone, Bodily admitted to being a 51-year-old man.

A few months later he invited the girl to Utah, telling her parents she would be visiting colleges and Mormon landmarks.

The two had sex at a Salt Lake City motel several times over a three-day period in June [FLOODLIT note: June 13-16, 2000 at Quality Inn in Murray, Utah].

Bodily has since been removed from his position as a bishop and excommunicated.

He also stands to lose his job as a physical education teacher at night school.

Under Utah law, it is illegal for a person to have sex with a 16- or 17-year-old if they are 10 or more years older than the minor. Bodily will be sentenced in March when he appears at the District Court. “

Case facts

  • Born: 1949
  • LDS mission: United States - Eastern States (headquarters in New York City) 1968-1970
  • During alleged crime/failure: Bishop,
  • When accused: Bishop,
  • Lived in: Utah,
  • During alleged crime, lived in: Utah,
  • Victims: 1 victim,
  • Latest update: 2023: registered sex offender; lives in Ogden, Utah

Case photos

Case information sources

  1. accused was maried in an LDS temple
    view source details | 27 May 1971 | Cache Valley Citizen
  2. Man lured girl, officials say
    view source details | 4 Nov 2000 | Winston-Salem Journal
  3. Former bishop gets prison in sex case
    view source details | 30 Mar 2001 | St. George Daily Spectrum
  4. Ex-LDS bishop headed to prison
    view source details | 30 Mar 2001 | Salt Lake Tribune
  5. Gordon Brent Bodily
    view source details | 21 Aug 2023 | Offender Radar
  6. RANDY BISHOP HAD SEX WITH GIRL OF 15.
    view source details | 21 Aug 2023 | The Free Library

Case information source details

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