David Harvey Herget

Sources

1. Facing 18 sex charges, man dies, Everett Herald [Washington], July 2, 2005.
2. Jail probes death of suicidal inmate, Seattle Times, July 4, 2005.
3. Man jailed in child rape case found dead despite suicide watch, Spokesman-Review [Spokane, Washington], July 6, 2005.
4. How a predator fooled everyone, Everett Herald [Washington], July 30, 2005.
5. Abuse and accountability [opinion], Seattle Times, August 24, 2005.
6. Mormon officials made a convicted child sex abuser the ward Santa and let him pass out candy, drive kids to activities and help with scout projects. In new Washington lawsuit, four plaintiffs say he met them through church, then sexually abused them hundreds of times., FLOODLIT.org, October 12, 2025.
7. Anapol Weiss Files Lawsuit Against LDS Church for Allowing Convicted Predator to Abuse Children, Anapol Weiss, October 13, 2025.

• 1. Facing 18 sex charges, man dies

  • 2 Jul 2005
  • News article
  • Everett Herald [Washington]

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  EVERETT – A convicted sex offender who allegedly used the Mormon church he attended to lure boys, died Saturday while on suicide watch in the Snohomish County Jail, officials reported.

  Correction officers responded around 4 a.m. to a single cell in the jail’s special custody unit, where David Herget, 62, of Mountlake Terrace had been held since Friday.

  An officer was checking on Herget’s safety every 30 minutes, said Jim Harms, the jail’s public information officer.

  Paramedics arrived about 30 minutes after an officer found Herget and unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate him, Harms said. The cause of Herget’s death is under investigation pending an autopsy by the Snohomish County medical examiner.

  Herget was the first man to die in jail custody since 2003, Harms said. “It’s extremely unusual,” he said.

  Herget’s family members declined to comment.

  Mountlake Terrace police arrested Herget on Friday on suspicion of sex crimes involving boys he met at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mountlake Terrace. Officers also searched his house Friday in the 5800 block of 225th Place SW.

  “We did recover quite a bit of evidence,” Assistant Police Chief Pete Caw said.

  Caw declined to comment on the items.

  Herget faced 18 charges of sex crimes, including six counts of child rape, six counts of child molestation, three counts of sexual exploitation of minors, and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, Harms said.

  Herget was being held in lieu of up to $345,000 bail, Harms said.

  Officials put Herget on suicide watch after family members expressed concerns about the possibility that he might harm himself, Harms said. At the time Herget was found, one officer had been designated to supervise 35 inmates in the unit.

  “The basic thing is to observe them. That’s why they’re designated to a single cell,” Harms said, adding that officers also check belongings inmates bring into their cells.

  It was not clear what Herget took into his cell. Each inmate can bring different items, depending on the circumstances, Harms said.

  Herget was convicted in 1993 of child rape and child molestation, police reported. He served time in jail and had been registered as a level 1 sex offender – considered the least likely to reoffend – since 1997 with the Mountlake Terrace police.

  Jeff Werner, who has lived for about 10 months next to Herget’s house, said he knew nothing about Herget’s record until police told him Friday.

  “It scared me. I questioned my boys when they got home,” said Werner, 42.

  His sons, 12 and 15, said Herget did them no harm, Werner said.

  Herget, who lived with his wife, daughter and son, often brought boys to his home and let them mow the lawn and do yardwork, Werner said Saturday standing outside his house.

  “I know he had boys out there,” he said.

  One day, Werner saw Herget through his kitchen window take pictures of boys with a digital camera, with one boy taking off his shirt.

  “If I had known (Herget’s background), I would’ve called the authorities,” Werner said.

  Officials should inform neighbors of sex offenders, Werner said.

  “I would’ve had a second thought, moving in,” he said.

• 2. Jail probes death of suicidal inmate

  • 4 Jul 2005
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  • Seattle Times

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  Snohomish County Jail authorities are investigating how David Herget, a registered sex offender, died while on suicide watch at the jail early Saturday morning.

  Jail authorities did not say that Herget, 62, killed himself, but more than one law-enforcement source said he did. The county medical examiner is expected to release the cause of death tomorrow.

  Mountlake Terrace police arrested Herget on Friday on suspicion of 18 charges, including child rape and child molestation, involving three minors, and he was booked into the county jail later that day.

  Authorities put him on suicide watch after a family member expressed concern Herget might harm himself and because of the nature of the allegations, said jail spokesman Jim Harms.

  On suicide watch, Herget was in a single-occupancy cell in the jail’s Special Custody Unit and was observed every 30 minutes. The officer watching Herget also was guarding 32 others at the time, though not all were on suicide watch, Harms said.

  Around 4 a.m. Saturday that officer called a medical emergency, and a nurse on duty performed emergency CPR on Herget.

  The jail staff also called 911, but emergency-medical technicians could not save Herget, who died around 4:30 a.m., before he could be taken to a hospital, according to Harms.

  A post-incident review is under way, and an internal investigation may be conducted, Harms said. The last time an inmate committed suicide while in the Snohomish County Jail custody was in 2003, Harms added.

  Mountlake Terrace police arrested Herget after the three minors in the past week reported the alleged incidents, said Police Chief Scott Smith. He was booked on six counts of child rape, six counts of child molestation, three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor using photographs and live performances, and three counts of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.

  Herget allegedly met the youths at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mountlake Terrace, where he was a member, police said. Smith said there are four other possible victims.

  Herget was convicted in 1993 of second-degree child rape in another Mountlake Terrace case. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, which was suspended after he served 180 days in jail, promised to undergo 36 months of treatment as an outpatient sex offender and registered as a sex offender.

  He was released from community supervision on that conviction in August 2001, court records indicate. The suspect was registered as a Level 1 sex offender, considered the least likely to reoffend.

  Times Snohomish County Bureau reporter Peyton Whitely contributed to this report.

• 3. Man jailed in child rape case found dead despite suicide watch

  • 6 Jul 2005
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  • Spokesman-Review [Spokane, Washington]

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  EVERETT – A sex offender who was on a suicide watch while being held for investigation of child rape and other offenses has been found dead at the Snohomish County Jail, officials reported.

  David Herget, 62, of Mountlake Terrace, accused of luring boys at a church, was being checked every 30 minutes before being found dead at 4 a.m. Saturday in his cell in the special custody unit, jail spokesman Jim Harms said.

  Herget was arrested Friday and placed on suicide watch after relatives expressed concern that he might try to harm himself, Harms said.

  Relatives would not comment. Cause of death was under investigation pending an autopsy by the Snohomish County medical examiner.

  Herget, convicted of child rape and child molestation in 1993, was the first man to die in the county jail since 2003, Harms said. He had been registered with Mountlake Terrace police as a level 1 sex offender, considered the least likely to reoffend, since 1997.

  He was being held for investigation of six counts each of child rape and child molestation, three counts of sexual exploitation of minors and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes with bail set at $345,000, Harms said.

  Authorities believe he lured boys he met while attending the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mountlake Terrace, said Pete Caw, assistant police chief in the suburban north of Seattle.

• 4. How a predator fooled everyone

  • 30 Jul 2005
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  • Everett Herald [Washington]

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  To his last breath, David Herget manipulated others.

  He had distorted his family’s love, pleading guilty a dozen years earlier to molesting a teenage female relative. On July 1, the convicted sex offender was back behind bars, this time accused of sexually abusing boys he met at church.

  Herget, 62, of Mountlake Terrace carefully groomed the boys, plying them with pornography and cash, police discovered. He made sure they wouldn’t tell by threatening to kill himself should the secret ever be revealed.

  It appears Herget made good on his threat.

  On suicide watch at the Snohomish County Jail in Everett, Herget on July 2 wound a strip of bedsheet around his neck. Investigators believe he used a jail sandal to tighten the loop, strangling himself as he sat alone in his cell.

  The next morning, Mountlake Terrace police delivered the news to the families of the boys he had molested.

  The teen who had broken the silence wept tears of confusion and grief, his parents said.

  “I’m looking at this boy and I’m thinking, ‘You should not have to deal with this garbage at such a young age,’” his mother said last week.

  The boy’s parents spoke on the condition their names not be used. They hope that by sharing how a pedophile gained access to their son, other parents might be able to protect their children.

  The couple readily acknowledged that they didn’t appreciate the danger Herget presented. They knew he had been convicted of a sex crime, but also saw him as a longtime member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Mountlake Terrace, where they have been active members for nearly two decades.

  They were gulled by Herget’s willingness to help others, and the close ties that exist within that community of faith, the boy’s father said.

  Dozens of others – including a state lawmaker – also stood by Herget, records show.

  It’s sometimes difficult to recognize that a sex offender can outwardly be a nice person but also a pose a grave risk, said Lucy Berliner, director of the sexual assault program at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

  The only safe approach is to “accurately and unflinchingly accept” that a sex offender can never be trusted to be alone with children, she said.

  “If you let down your guard and allow a known sex offender to be alone with your children, you are experimenting with your child and essentially crossing your fingers and hoping your child won’t be the one,” Berliner said.

  Herget was a self-employed computer expert and the father of four grown children. He was raised in Portland, Ore., one of six children in a devout Mormon family.

  Herget’s family declined to speak with a reporter. Court papers and interviews confirm that it was through the Mormon church in Mountlake Terrace that he met the boys he molested.

  The boy’s mother said she was never fond of Herget, who could at times be condescending and domineering. His wife, on the other hand, is as close as an older sister, she said.

  It was out of love for Herget’s wife and children that he was welcome in their home. Out of love, they stood by Herget when he was convicted in 1993 of sexually abusing a girl, the boy’s parents said.

  The boy’s mother said her heart went out to the girl Herget molested. The child first disclosed the molestation to her. The woman said she’d also been abused when she was young. Together, they went to a church leader.

  Herget admitted the abuse, and police were summoned. His written confession describes the victim as “young, beguiling and lovely,” and his offense as a “dastardly deed.”

  Even so, Herget dawdled in negotiating a guilty plea in the 1993 case, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Paul Stern said. Herget was angry that authorities had barred him from contact with his own children, who then still lived at home.

  “I could not comprehend that anyone would tear us apart as a family,” he wrote. “I am appalled that we would be cut off from each other. That type of thing only happened in Nazi Germany or in a godless communist Russia.”

  Herget sought a special sentence for first-time sex offenders deemed likely to benefit from treatment. Without it, he faced up to nine years in prison.

  The court received dozens of letters from church members urging leniency. One was written by a Seattle police detective who belonged to the congregation. Another came from the parents of the boy who would later unmask Herget as a serial molester.

  “Mistakes need to be paid for, but once they are paid for, a normal life needs to be allowed,” the couple wrote.

  State Sen. Paull Shin, D-Mukilteo, was then in his first term in the state House of Representatives. He knew Herget. On a state letterhead, he wrote prosecutors and a Snohomish County judge, requesting leniency.

  “I feel that Mr. Herget is basically a kind and honest man,” Shin wrote.

  Shin said he was new to the Legislature at the time and would not write such a letter today.

  “David Herget’s wife and his children came to me in tears,” he said. “I was very moved by that.”

  A prosecutor for nearly 24 years, Stern said it is common for people to seek mercy in sex cases.

  “Lots of folks are very outspoken about what we should do with sex offenders, until the offender is someone they know,” he said.

  Stern supported sentencing Herget to treatment. He matched the profile of someone research suggests would be the least likely to re-offend. The girl he molested also wanted Herget to get treatment. That, Stern said, carried more weight than all the letters from church members.

  In treatment, Herget told how as a child he had been abused for years by a male relative, records show. The judge received glowing letters about his progress, including Herget’s reported recognition that his deviant urges could only be controlled but never extinguished.

  Herget was removed from state supervision in summer 2001. He had to register as a sex offender, but had long since reunited with his family.

  Excommunicated by a Mormon church tribunal after his conviction, Herget completed the process of penitence, counseling and introspection that allowed him to rejoin the church.

  Officials with Herget’s church declined to discuss his case. Instead, they provided papers describing in general how the church tracks members who have been convicted of sexual abuse and bars them from work with children.

  Herget got around that barrier after 2001 by privately offering assistance as an unofficial volunteer, or by simply being close to the families of his victims. He offered help on scouting projects and provided rides to sporting events, police discovered. Sons were sent to Herget, offering help with yardwork he could not complete because of health problems.

  Mountlake Terrace Police Chief Scott Smith said detectives identified at least seven boys Herget abused over the years. One boy estimated that at least 1,400 acts of abuse occurred, starting in summer 2001.

  Herget’s arrest came after three of the boys spoke with police. All related similar stories of how Herget began trying to molest them when they were young and overcame their reluctance over time, usually with pornography and money.

  The abuse was uncovered when the parents of one boy checked the family computer and confirmed suspicions that their son had been visiting sex sites on the Internet.

  A check of his e-mail showed frequent correspondence with Herget. The man encouraged the teen to lie to his parents, and talked of letting him do things he knew they would not allow, his father said.

  That fit a troubling pattern, the boy’s mother said. Herget ignored limits, buying her children gifts and attempting to arrange trips without permission.

  “It just seemed he was trying to overrule our parental authority,” she said.

  Herget cried when the boy’s father told him to stay away.

  Additional digging led to other e-mail accounts for the boy, all set up by Herget. Messages in those accounts showed Herget was providing pornography, and hinted at worse.

  One of the messages read: “You are a good young man. Please forgive me if you can.”

  The teen finally disclosed the abuse. Other children were being molested as well, he said, because Herget would sometimes involve multiple children in his acts of abuse.

  Smith, the police chief, said Herget was able to manipulate people by using his church involvement.

  “I’m sure their intentions were good, but I think the church – I don’t care if it is Mormon, Methodist, Catholic, I don’t care the denomination – they have a responsibility to protect their children,” Smith said.

  The boy’s mother said she has learned how important it is to act on parental instinct. If it feels as if something is wrong, it likely is, she said.

  “You’ve got to be the parent,” the boy’s father said.

• 5. Abuse and accountability [opinion]

  • 24 Aug 2005
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  • Seattle Times

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  By Norton R. Nowlin

  The trust of a child is a very delicate matter, creating a tremendous burden of responsibility for the adult caregiver. This burden is also an explicit duty, both moral and legal, to assure that the child’s trust is not misplaced by allowing a sexual predator to covertly abuse that boy or girl.

  Of all the places you would not expect to find such people lurking, waiting for an opportunity to molest, is a Christian church where the words of Jesus are commonly enshrined, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, for such is the kingdom of heaven.”

  But there are presently some religious denominations whose ecclesiastical policies inadvertently permit supposedly repentant pedophiles to repeat their dirty work under a shield of the priest-counseling privilege. Why these churches routinely protect their identity is incomprehensible.

  These allegedly penitent sex offenders satisfy their cravings until their young victims finally cry abuse to their parents. In most cases, these confused pre-adolescents seriously believe they are the ones to blame and continue into adulthood laboring under a severe burden of guilt.

  This is usually the first time that the shocked parents are made aware that a sex offender has been in their midst, that the culprit has been sitting in their congregation every Sunday acting as a humble and respected parishioner.

  Even more egregious and startling is when the one officiating in the most sacred rites is the deceitful predator. Then, the church’s ecclesiastical leaders are pointedly asked by the parents whether they knew that the perpetrator was a sex offender.

  With defensive tones, the bishops, archbishops and chief ministers cajole the victims — both the children and the parents — into believing that the offender, who typically was placed by the governing clergy in a respected position allowing him access to the children, repented of his sins and went through a period of penance that absolved him of all wrongdoing.

  The victims are encouraged to undergo church-sponsored counseling and to forgive the sinner and try to forget, especially about any thoughts of holding the church legally accountable for damages inflicted on the children.

  The most recent incident of sexual molestation emanating from inside a religious denomination occurred in Mountlake Terrace, where there is presently the highest density of Level II and Level III sex offenders within the entire state of Washington.

  David Henry Herget, a Mormon high priest and convicted Level I sex offender — a person whom I knew — was arrested July 1 on suspicion of 18 charges, including child rape and sexual exploitation of a child. He died early the next day while on suicide watch at Snohomish County Jail.

  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a very questionable policy of shielding its lay clergy who previously have committed sexual child molestation but supposedly have repented of their crimes. It is a policy that should be promptly amended.

  Herget was excommunicated from the Mormon Church in 1993 after a conviction for child rape, but subsequently was re-ordained to his priesthood office in 2004. During the interim, Herget’s status as a convicted sex offender was mostly unknown to the rank-and-file Mormon congregation in Mountlake Terrace, which allowed him the opportunity to mingle with, and gain the confidence of, the local Mormon children.

  For most of a decade, the Catholic Church has been unsuccessful in using the priest-counseling privilege as a valid defense in the numerous lawsuits alleging abuse by the Catholic clergy. This futile attempt at ecclesiastical privilege, in order to protect the church from liability, has also been tried by attorneys representing the LDS Church in more than 30 sexual-abuse lawsuits across the country.

  Perhaps it is high time that the Mormons, and all other churches that routinely protect the identity of sex offenders, take a long hard look at their disclosure policies and whom they regularly ordain as priests.

  Norton R. Nowlin is a paralegal and freelance writer residing in Mountlake Terrace. He has been an elder in the Mormon Church since 1972.

• 6. Mormon officials made a convicted child sex abuser the ward Santa and let him pass out candy, drive kids to activities and help with scout projects. In new Washington lawsuit, four plaintiffs say he met them through church, then sexually abused them hundreds of times.

  • 12 Oct 2025
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  Floodlit has obtained a copy of a civil lawsuit filed on Oct. 6 against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding convicted sexual abuser David Herget (1943 – 2005).

  In the lawsuit, four men say Mormon church officials allowed Herget to access them repeatedly between 2001 and 2005 in their Mountlake Terrace congregation in the LDS Lynnwood Stake in Washington, despite previously excommunicating him for child sex abuse.

  After jail time for child rape, Herget (a registered sex offender) was granted ongoing access to Mormon children, the lawsuit says.

  Church officials allegedly “allowed [Herget] to hand out candy to kids during Sunday services [and] encouraged him to dress up as Santa Claus at Christmas and have kids sit in his lap.”

  One plaintiff was five years old when Herget allegedly molested him. Another “suffered hundreds of instances of sexual abuse”, according to the suit. A third victim “was subject to nearly four years of sexual assault.”

  Download the 20-page complaint
  https://floodlit.org/shop/products-court-documents/2025-wa-lawsuit-herget/

  Herget was allegedly sent children, despite not being allowed to hold a church calling

  A July 30, 2005 Everett Herald article reported on Herget’s excommunication and re-baptism. The newspaper reached out to church officials, who declined to discuss the case. Instead, “they provided papers describing in general how the church tracks members who have been convicted of sexual abuse and bars them from work with children.”

  But Mormon officials allowed Herget to help on Scouting projects and give kids rides to sporting events, according to police. They also allegedly sent boys to help Herget with yard work.

  Herget’s stake president Marcus Nash was an attorney who later defended the Mormon church in sex abuse lawsuits and is now a president of the Seventy

  Floodlit has learned that Marcus Nash, a current member of the LDS church’s Presidency of the Seventy, was Herget’s stake president from 1991 to 2001, and an area authority seventy overseeing a region that included Washington from 2001 to 2006. During that time, Nash was an attorney who defended the Mormon church in two child sex abuse lawsuits (see our case reports on Jack Loholt and Peter Taylor). In both cases, the church was ordered to make payments to victims. Since 2006, Nash has been a general authority in the church.

  Timeline of alleged events

  March 1993: David Harvey Herget, a Mormon high priest, former U.S. Marine and former LDS seminary teacher, is charged after allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl he calls “young, beguiling, and lovely.”
  May 1993: Herget pleads guilty to one count each of child rape and child molestation, both second-degree felonies.
  Between May and July 1993: As sentencing nears, the court receives dozens of letters from church members in support of Herget. One is written by a Seattle police detective in the ward. Another is from the parents of a boy who later reports Herget molested him. Another is from state senator Paull Shin, who was an LDS mission president in Seoul, Korea from 1988 to 1991 and was a church member in Herget’s stake.
  July 1993: Herget is sentenced to 180 days in jail, plus seven years and five months of community supervision.
  1993 or 1994: Herget serves 180 days of a seven-year sentence. He is designated a level-1 sex offender and is excommunicated from the LDS church.
  1997: Mormon officials start allowing Herget to attend “certain Church services,” the lawsuit says.
  2001: Once Herget’s state supervision ends, Mormon officials allegedly allow him to participate actively in Mountlake Ward activities. He is assigned to print and pass out programs during Sunday church services, the lawsuit alleges. Sometimes, Herget enlists young boys to help him print church programs at his home, with the awareness of ward leaders, according to the complaint.
  2001–2005: Herget allegedly sexually abuses at least four pre-adolescent boys; one is only 5 years old. Some of the alleged abuse occurs on LDS church property, according to the lawsuit, which says church officials “allowed Herget to create a set of ‘special programs’ for children” which contained “candy Herget had taped inside the programs.” Herget allegedly “handed the ‘special programs’ to the boys in the Ward during chapel […] in the plain sight of the Ward Bishop and the Stake President when he was visiting.”
  March 31, 2001: Recently released Lynnwood Stake president Marcus Nash is called by the Mormon church to be an area authority seventy. The church assigns Nash, a partner in a major Seattle law firm, to the North America Northwest area until 2006.
  By 2002: Herget is re-baptized into the LDS church. At the time, Herget is allegedly abusing three of the four eventual plaintiffs.
  2002: As Nash defends the church in a child sex abuse lawsuit (regarding Peter Taylor), Herget allegedly meets with children on church property, “show[ing] them pornography and offer[ing] them cash to perform sexual acts.”

  David Herget

  2003: Herget is allowed to participate in a ward talent show.
  2004: Herget is re-ordained to the church’s Melchizedek Priesthood and given the office of high priest again. He allegedly serves as ward Santa Claus, having young church members sit on his lap. The congregation is not aware of Herget’s criminal past, the lawsuit says.
  2004: Nash begins defending the church in another child sexual abuse lawsuit (regarding Jack Loholt).
  July 1, 2005: Herget is arrested by Mountlake Terrace Police on suspicion of 18 criminal charges, including six counts of child rape, six counts of child molestation, three counts of sexual exploitation of minors, and related offenses. Detectives have identified at least seven victims. One boy estimated that Herget abused him at least 1,400 times starting in summer 2001 – an average of once per day for approximately four years.
  July 2, 2005: Herget dies by suicide in Snohomish County Jail while on suicide watch.
  April 1, 2006: The Mormon church calls Marcus Nash to be a general authority seventy.
  2024: The church appoints Nash to be a member of its Presidency of the Seventy, a level just below the fifteen apostles who lead the church.
  Oct. 6, 2025: Four men file a lawsuit in King County Superior Court against the Mormon church for allegedly enabling abuse by allowing Herget access to them between 2001 and 2005, when they were children.

  FLOODLIT.org will continue to monitor this lawsuit and update our case report for David Herget. We are following over 125 other ongoing lawsuits against the Mormon church.

  If you knew David Herget or have any case information, please contact us.

• 7. Anapol Weiss Files Lawsuit Against LDS Church for Allowing Convicted Predator to Abuse Children

  • 13 Oct 2025
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  • Anapol Weiss

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  PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

  SEATTLE, WA — October 13, 2025 — Anapol Weiss, together with Dolman Law Group and Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC, has filed a lawsuit in King County, Washington on behalf of four survivors of child sexual abuse against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The lawsuit alleges that the Church knowingly reinstated a convicted child rapist into positions of trust, enabling years of abuse against vulnerable children.

  The lawsuit alleges that the LDS Church knowingly placed a convicted child rapist, David Herget, in positions of authority and trust, giving him direct and repeated access to children, despite his known history of sexual violence, molestation, and abuse.

  According to the complaint, Herget was convicted in 1993 of raping a 13-year-old family member. Within a few years, the complaint says, the LDS Church allowed him to return to church services, interact with children, and eventually regain his title as a High Priest. Despite knowing his history, church leaders permitted him to distribute candy to children during Sunday services, dress as Santa Claus at church events, and participate in activities that brought him into close contact with young boys.

  Between 2001 and 2005, the lawsuit alleges, Herget groomed and sexually assaulted four boys, including one who was just five years old. The complaint further states that the church empowered Herget to gain the trust of these children and to groom and eventually assault them, including on church property. Herget’s ongoing violence against children was finally revealed in 2005, when Herget was arrested on suspicion of multiple sex crimes against children. He died by suicide while in jail.

  “This isn’t a case of ignorance, it’s a case of betrayal,” said Alexandra Walsh, partner at Anapol Weiss. “The church knew exactly who this man was and what he had done. Nonetheless, they gave a convicted predator a position of trust and authority, which allowed him to exercise power over young boys. These kids deserved safety. Instead, they were left vulnerable to unimaginable harm.”

  The plaintiffs, identified as John Roe 1 through John Roe 4, are now adults living in multiple states. Each endured years of grooming and abuse tied directly to Herget’s role within the LDS Church. The lawsuit asserts claims including negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.