Convicted:
1991, 
Was Scout leader, - LDS mission:
Unknown country - unknown
-
Add info
- Alleged victims: 10 or more victims, Multiple victims, Unknown number of victims,
- Alleged crime scenes: LDS activity, LDS building, Perpetrator's home, Scout activity, Victim's home,
Convicted, Jail, Probation, - Lawsuit v. LDS church, Unknown result,
- Alleged failure to report
- AKA Joe Empey, Dennis Empey, Uncle Dennis, DJ Empey, Bro Emp
updated Sep 29, 2025 - request update- Have info to add? Tell us
Crime: 
Was 
Update – Sept. 23, 2025: Dennis Empey, AKA Joe Empey, has been charged again.
According to the East Idaho News, Empey was allegedly showing a wound photo to a healthcare worker, and while scrolling through the images, the healthcare worker saw CSAM on Empey’s phone and later contacted police.
It took eight months for police to charge Empey.
He has been charged with: felony possession and distribution of child pornography, two felony child sexual battery charges through solicitation, and two misdemeanors for disseminating materials to minors.
Empey attended BYU and Ricks or BYU-Idaho.
Empey is from Driggs, Idaho – the same region (East Idaho) as …
- Candon Dahle – Blackfoot
- Troy Dameron – Teton County
- Eric Jones – Blackfoot
- Keven Brad Nelson
- Robert Eugene Stahn – Idaho Falls
- Brad Stowell – Blackfoot
- LaVar Madsen Withers – Rexburg
- Byron Dean Wiscombe – Ammon
… who also are in our database.
Floodlit is cleaning up the notes below as we review records we’ve obtained thanks to your donations.
Empey has been named as a defendant or accused in multiple lawsuits of molesting children while active in the LDS church. One or more of these lawsuits also named the church as a defendant, alleging negligence and/or failure to report abuse by Mormon officials.
BSA bankruptcy litigation documents indicate that Empey was tied to two settlement or payout amounts after child sexual abuse allegations, totaling about $550,000 (source: case 20-10343-LSS, docket item 8825, p. 18). Floodlit is trying to determine whether the LDS church made either of those two payments.
Empey is an alleged serial sexual predator. Accounts of abuse by Empey date back to at least 1981, when he was 24. Some examples:
- 1981 – per 1988 internal BSA letter – alleged abuse took place at an LDS chapel during a BSA Order of the Arrow activity (see Empey’s “perversion file” link in Sources section)
- 1982 – per 2013 lawsuit
- 1983 – per Jeff Bird in 2005, filed in support of plaintiffs who were suing the BSA Grand Teton Council
- 1986, 1990 – per 1991 Utah criminal case (Empey was convicted)
- 2025 – per 2025 Idaho criminal case
On Sept. 13, 1991, Joe Empey’s neighbor wrote a pre-sentencing letter to Utah County judge George Ballif, saying:
“This man has molested so many children that it involved four Bishops from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.”
One of those bishops was the neighbor’s. (source: Idaho Falls Post-Register, July 3, 2005, “More Pedophile Cases Emerge With Scout Camp Connections”)
In 2005, Jeff Bird, an alleged victim of Empey’s, filed a sworn statement regarding his accusations in Bannock County, Idaho court.
A newspaper reported that Bird “says he told his stake president. The man told him he knew about Empey’s history of molesting children.” (source: Idaho Falls Post-Register, July 3, 2005, “More Pedophile Cases Emerge With Scout Camp Connections”)
As of 2025, Empey lives in Driggs, Idaho as a registered sex offender.
Sources
- Dennis J. Empey - the Perversion Files,
- Boy Scouts, Mormon Church Accused of Abuse,
- Idaho Boy Scout Abuse,
- Scouts' honor - The whistle-blower,
- Two separate cases concerning sexual exploitation go through court system; Eck and Empey,
- Registered sex offender charged after hospital worker reports seeing child porn on his phone,
- Dennis Joe Empey,
-
1. Dennis J. Empey - the Perversion Files
-
2. Boy Scouts, Mormon Church Accused of Abuse
BOISE, Idaho (CN) - In a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts and the Mormon church, four former Scouts say they were molested by Scout leaders, forced to watch while their friends were abused and forced to have sex with each other.
John Does I-IV sued the Boy Scouts of America and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Federal Court. The corporations, and the corporation of the Mormons' presiding bishop, are the only defendants. The alleged abuses came in the 1980s.
John Doe I, now 43, claims that in 1982 he was sodomized and subjected to "physical, sexual and emotional abuse," at the hands of scout leader James Schmidt.
Doe I claims both the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS Church) were notified as early as 1979 that Schmidt was a pedophile and had been abusing Scouts. He claims Schmidt abused him for six months on Boy Scout camping trips, at an LDS ward building and in the attic of Boy Scout Council headquarters in Boise.
Caldwell police arrested Schmidt in 1983 after interviewing 16 Scouts and their parents who documented an undisclosed number of cases involving abuse of minors.
Schmidt was ultimately ordered by the court to complete treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, for "severe pedophilia," according to the complaint.
Schmidt's treatment, however, apparently did not take. Doe II claims Schmidt began abusing him in 1985, when he was 12 years old.
"Schmidt's sexual abuse included fondling of John Doe II's penis, testicles and anus, and other physical, sexual and emotion abuse," the complaint states. "This abuse continued for approximately two years, until John Doe II was 14 years old. The abuse occurred on BSA camping trips."
Doe III claims he was abused for a week by Scout volunteer Dennis Empey, during a camping trip in 1981. Doe was 14 at the time.
"Defendant BSA placed Empey on its Ineligible Volunteer Files (IV Files) for molesting Scouts in 1988," the complaint states. "Letters in Empey's IV File document that one of the victims - a member of the LDS Church - told his father in 1987 that Empey had abused him in 1981 at an LDS Chapel in Idaho Falls. No one from BSA reported this incident to the police."
Empey was convicted of molesting children in Provo, Utah in 1991, according to the complaint. That year he moved back to Idaho and was hired by the Teton Council of BSA to do graphic design work, the complaint states.
"In association with another case in Idaho in 2005, a man filed an affidavit stating that Empey had molested him in 1983 at the Island Park Scout Camp," the complaint states.
Doe IV, now 53, claims he was molested in 1972 by Scoutmaster Lawrence Libey. The abuse involved fondling, oral sex, and sodomy and Libey forcing Doe IV to have sex with another boy, Doe IV says in the complaint. He claims the abuse occurred "hundreds of times and lasted for approximately 6 years."
The plaintiffs claim the Boy Scouts knew it had a pedophilia problem as far back as 1920, when it began tracking cases of child molestation and filing them away under its "Red Flag" files, now known as the IV Files.
The files were broken down into two categories: financial transgressions and moral transgressions. Moral transgressions were known as the "Perversion" files, according to the complaint.
The IV Files consist primarily of Perversion files, according to the complaint.
"Between 1920 and 1935, at least 1,000 child molesters, between 50 to 60 per year, were discovered and subsequently excluded from scouting," the complaint states. "Now, 1,365 IV Perversion files still exist that were created between 1960 and 1985, with 25 to 96 IV Perversion files created per year during that time frame. However, the number of IV Perversion files still existing significantly under represent the actual number of adult volunteers that molested scouts because defendant BSA has destroyed many IV Files for a variety of reasons, and because many children do not report their abuse."
Seven Scout leaders in Idaho alone were accused of molestation between 1962 and 1977, and three more accusations arose between 1978 and 1983, according to the complaint.
The plaintiffs claim the BSA and the LDS Church were well aware of the problem.
The LDS Church, through individual wards, sponsors many Scout troops in Idaho, and many Scout leaders and volunteers are members of the church, according to the complaint.
"Scouting was the official program for boys in the LDS Church, and many boys growing up in the LDS Church were required or strongly encouraged to join scouting," according to the complaint. "Scouting was an official part of the Aaronic Priesthood for young men under 21 in the LDS Church."
Men in the LDS Church were either "required or strongly encouraged" to be Scout leaders, according to the complaint.
The LDS church is broken into wards, each headed by a bishop.
"The bishop had many tasks, including selecting and supervising Scout leaders within the LDS Church," according to the complaint, which claims that every ward is required to maintain a Scout troop.
Therefore, the plaintiffs claim, the LDS Church is responsible for protecting Scouts in their sponsored troops.
"Prior to or during plaintiffs' abuse, LDS defendants were also aware of the risk that Scouts could be molested by Scout leaders, including LDS Scout leaders and Scout leaders in LDS-sponsored troops," the complaint states. "In Idaho, LDS defendants had notice prior to plaintiffs' abuse that at least one LDS Scout leader in an LDS-sponsored troop within the Ore-Ida Council of BSA had been accused of molesting Scouts."
The plaintiffs claim the BSA and the LDS Church had to have known "to a moral certainty" that at least some Scouts would be molested every year if the organization's structure did not change.
Does I-IV seek damages for constructive fraud.
They are represented by Andrew Chasan with Chasan & Walton in Boise, and Gilion Dumas, with O'Donnell Clark & Crew, of Portland, Ore.
-
3. Idaho Boy Scout Abuse
Perpetrator: Empey, Dennis - Mormon
Place: Idaho Falls, Provo
Troop & Location: Grand Teton Coucil - Idaho, Island Park Scout Camp - Idaho, Utah National Parks Council, Great Salt Lake Council
Years in BSA: Put in the IV Files in 1988, Scouting 1983 - 1990's
Description/Convictions:Raped a scout in 1983 at camp – reported it to the camp director but nothing was done. Scout later told LDS stake president, and the president verified that Empey was also being investigated for rapes in Provo. Empey was Convicted of child molestation in May, 1991 and sentenced for 2 yrs. probation. Post Register – Zuckerman
Sex Offender Registry Details
Evidence of LDS Knowledge:
1993-Victim Notified LDS Stake President 10 yrs after rape. The Stake president said they had already known of Empey’s molesting boys. Post Register Article – 6/23/05 – Peter Zuckerman
Dennis Empey in the News:More Pedophile Cased Emerge With Scout Camp Connections
https://web.archive.org/web/20150708130348/http://www.idahoboyscoutabuse.com/more-pedophile-cased-emerge-with-scout-camp-connections/Scout case ‘not found’ – Court records show fourth pedophile led several Boy Scout outings
https://web.archive.org/web/20150708110728/http://www.idahoboyscoutabuse.com/scout-case-not-found-court-records-show-fourth-pedophile-led-several-boy-scout-outings/Timeline for Dennis Joe Empey:
DOB: 12/13/1957 St. Luke’s, Boise, Idaho
1972 Received specialized training in Boy Scout Leadership at Philmont Scout Ranch and Explorer Base (New Mexico.) (Idaho Falls Post-Register, 6/22/1972)
1976 Selected to head the Red Beret Leadership Corps for the Cedar Badge Spirit of ’76 encampment scheduled for June 21-26 at the Treasure Mountain Scout Camp of the Tetons. (Idaho Falls Post-Register, 2/9/1976)
May 1976 Commencement for Teton High graduates. (Idaho Falls Post-Register, May 18, 1976)
Summer 1976 Serving as Youth Coordinator in Teton County for State Senator Stan Kress campaign. Article states Empey will be attending Ricks College in the fall. (Idaho Falls Post-Register, July 23, 1976)
1977 Provided entertainment (comedy team) at the first Teton Peaks Council Cub Scout Day Camp. (Idaho Falls Post-Register, July 27, 1977)
Spring, 1981 Molested Scout with the Order of the Arrow at the LDS Chapel in Idaho Falls.
June, 1983 Empey flashed a gun and then raped a Scout at the Island Park Scout Camp.
June, 1983 The Scout reported the rape the next day to the camp director, Kim Hansen. Hansen was friends with Empey and suggested to the Scout that if he couldn’t get along with Empey that he wouldn’t be welcome at the camp the next year.
September 1983 – April 1984 Empey attended BYU (BYU Police Department has no records pertaining to Empey.)
8/9/88 Letter from Paul Ernst to Reese Faulkner, Scout Executive with Utah National Parks Council requesting info on Empey.
8/30/88 Letter to Paul Ernst from Hart Bullock stating Reese Faulkner had spoken to Empey and that Empey “confessed to a totally separate sexual child abuse situation from the one that we were aware of.” According to the letter, Empey had been “very active in Scouting in Idaho Falls and in Provo…” Empey agreed to disassociate himself with Scouting activities.
12/6/88 Second request from Paul Ernst to Reese Faulkner for info on Empey.
12/12/88 Dennis Empey placed in the IV Files.
5/10/91 Dennis Empey befriended a family in Provo, UT., molested the children, was convicted and served a 2 yr. probation
1993 Dennis Empey moved back to Idaho, was hired back at the Teton Council to do graphic design work.
2007-2008 Active in the LDS Church. (online postings)
Fall 2011 A juvenile at a skate park in Driggs had a “bad feeling about a man who had been at the skate park.” The man, who turned out to be Empey, had been taking pictures of kids and asking them to sign a waiver so he could post the pictures on the internet. (Teton Valley News, September 29, 2011)
-
4. Scouts' honor - The whistle-blower
by Peter Zuckerman
[PDF contains several articles]
-
5. Two separate cases concerning sexual exploitation go through court system; Eck and Empey
Dennis Empey, 68, was charged for sexual exploitation of a child in three counts, sexual battery in two counts with a minor, and disseminating harmful material to a minor. The arraignment was held on Sept. 17 in the Teton County Courthouse.
According to court documents, TCSO detectives were alerted to possible child pornography on Empey’s cell phone after Empey had visited the hospital and wanted a hospital worker to see a wound he had taken a photo of. When Empey swiped out of the photo of the wound, the worker thought they saw a young boy without a shirt on in the photos—they requested TCSO to investigate.
Empey invited the TCSO investigators into his home, and eventually, a warrant was granted to seize his device after a detective found child pornography of young males in a Facebook messenger chat. Empey’s device yielded more photos of young males; he later stated he estimated each of their ages to be between 12-17. Additionally, Empey was found to allegedly have had two separate conversations with 17-year-olds in foreign countries that constituted sexual battery. Empey allegedly lied about his age to the boys, and explicit images and videos were sent with requests from Empey to send explicit photos of themselves.
TCSO detectives returned to Empey in May to confirm he had known the material and conversations were with and concerning minors. After acknowledging their ages, Empey was charged with five felonies and one misdemeanor. Empey is a registered sex offender.
His preliminary hearing will be held on Oct. 1 at 1:30 p.m.
-
6. Registered sex offender charged after hospital worker reports seeing child porn on his phone
DRIGGS — A registered sex offender has been charged after hospital staff reported explicit images involving children on the man’s phone.
Dennis Joe Empey, 67, faces felony possession and distribution of child porn charges, two felony child sexual battery charges through solicitation and two misdemeanors for disseminating materials to minors.
Empey is a registered sex offender, and according to the Idaho Sex Offender Registry, it stems from charges in Provo, Utah, from 1991.
A hospital worker contacted a detective with the Teton County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 26 when Empey tried to show them a photo of a wound.
During this, the worker saw a photo when Empey was swiping through photos of a shirtless boy between 8 to 12 years old, but couldn’t see if the boy was naked. Empey swiped again, and the worker saw a blurry photo of the upper chest of a child.
On Jan. 15, two detectives went to interview Empey at his residence in Driggs.
There, the detectives read him his Miranda Rights and explained why they were there regarding the allegation made by the hospital worker.
The document states that Empey denied having such content on his phone, and the detectives asked if they could review it.
Empey agreed, and looking through a Facebook Messenger, the detective reported seeing a possible artificial intelligence-generated photo of two boys engaging in a sexual act.
The detective showed Empey the photo and asked if the children in the photo were juveniles, and the man agreed.
Empey continued to deny having anything to do with the photo, and it was from a group chat. Looking at the group chat, Empey had joined it on Jan. 10.
Empey’s phone was seized, and a search warrant was obtained for the data on the phone.
During the search of the phone, the detective located a video that was found in Empey’s Telegram messages that shows two boys engaging in sex. Another image that was found shows a boy exposing himself.
On his WhatsApp account, the detective found a conversation thread between Empey and two other individuals from other countries in which they informed Empey that they were under the age of 17.
The document states that in these conversations, in exchange for porn, he’d asked the individuals to send him nude photos of themselves.
In the conversations, Empey offers one of the individuals to be his “teacher.” The account Empey used contained false information and featured an AI-generated profile picture.
The conversations between the two individuals revolved around Empey telling them about sex, asking for nude photos, and, in one conversation, Empey sending a video of a man masturbating.
On May 8, the detectives interviewed Empey once again at his residence to further question him about the findings.
Regarding the first photo that detectives found, he said he had stumbled upon it and didn’t fully examine it. Empey remarked that he should have deleted the photo, just as he had with the others.
When shown a screenshot of the first video and the photo of the boy exposing himself, Empey said he doesn’t recognize them.
The detectives asked Empey about the conversations with the alleged 17-year-olds, and sending pornographic images and asking for nude photos; Empey said that was the standard thing that you do and that they asked for that all the time.
When informed that he was the one who had sent those messages, Empey said it was not right and not something he should have done.
The document states that Empey was asked if the alleged 17-year-olds he was talking with were indeed 17 years old. Empey answered that logically they probably were.
Empey is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing before Magistrate Judge Jason Walker at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 1.
Though Empey has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty. If he is found guilty, he faces up to 87 years in prison.
-
7. Dennis Joe Empey
IDAHO SOR - offender profile
Offender IdentificationReg ID: SX05461
KNO: 8008517
Name: EMPEY, DENNIS JAlias:
EMPEY, DENNIS JOEBirth Date: December 14, 1957 Birth Place: ID
Race: WHITE Sex: MALE
Height: 5 ft 06 in Weight: 230 lbs
Eye Color: BROWN Hair Color: BROWNPrimary Address
[redacted]
DRIGGS, ID 83422-5129
TETON COUNTYLast Photo Date: July 28, 2025
Last Registered: July 28, 2025
Last Process: ANNUAL REG
Last Process Update: July 28, 2025
Last Verification Received: July 28, 2025
Reg Status: COMPLIANT
Documents
Have docs or info? Add information
Criminal case documents
Floodlit does not have a copy of a related probable cause affidavit. Please check back soon or contact us to request that we look for one.Civil case documents
Floodlit has a copy of a related civil complaint, but it is not currently available for download. Please check back soon or contact us to request an copy.Other documents
Floodlit has a copy of one or more related documents, but none are currently available for download. Please check back soon or contact us to request copies.Timeline
- 1957Born
- 1993Idahovictim tells stake president about 1983 abuse by EmpeyIn support of a 2005 Idaho lawsuit, plaintiff Jeff Bird reportedly "says he told his stake president. The Stake President told him he knew about Empey's history of molesting children."
Videos
- Video title: Church and the Fourth Estate
- Video description: per The Intercept: "In 1997, while at a Boy Scout camp in Idaho, Adam Steed was sexually abused by a Scout leader and Latter-day Saints mentor named Brad Stowell. (The Boy Scouts have historically been closely connected to the Church of Latter-day Saints, often known as the Mormon church.) When Steed sought to report the abuse, leadership at the camp failed to act, so the then-14-year-old boy took it on himself to call the police, who descended on the camp and arrested Stowell.“That should be the end of the story,” Steed told me when I interviewed him, “where the good guys come in and fix it. But unfortunately, that was just the beginning."Description source: https://theintercept.com/2020/12/21/boy-scouts-abuse-scandal-film/
Add information
If someone you know was harmed by the person listed on this page, or if you would like us to add or correct any information, please fill out the form below. We will keep you anonymous. You can also contact us directly.
Other Mormon sex abuse cases
-
- Arlo Atkin (1956 – ) was a former LDS bishop in or near Chandler, Maricopa County, Arizona; accused of raping and impregnating a 14-year-old girl in his ward while he was her bishop; pleaded guilty, spent 132 days in jail
- View report »
-
-
- Clark Crookston (1949 – ) was a former Mormon bishop, dentist and college professor in Orem, Utah; accused of nearly 60 years of sex abuse of multiple children; pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated child sexual abuse; sentenced in 2022 to up to 35 years in prison
- View report »
"I assumed I was alone. I felt guilty even to question his worthiness. [...] I buried the hurt and kept it secret for over 30 years. [...] The children who came forward are my heroes. These are the brave souls [who] broke the curse that has been happening for nearly 60 years."-
-
- Alberto Reyes was a Mormon bishop in Argentina who sexually abused a child; allegedly sexually abused the victim for at least nine years; convicted in 2004
- View report »
-
