Convicted:
2000, 
LDS positions: Unknown position, - LDS mission:
no
- Alleged:
1 victim,
Criminal case(s): Convicted, - Alleged failure to report
- AKA Dave McGhie
updated Sep 29, 2025 - request update | add info
Crime: 
Crime state:
LDS positions: 
Alleged:
Criminal case(s): 
This case arose in 2000 in St. George, Utah.
On January 14, 2000, David McGhie was arrested on charges of forcible sex abuse, aggravated sex abuse of a child and forcible sodomy. He was held at Purgatory Correctional Facility on $40,000 bail.
David McGhie was convicted in Utah on November 20, 2000 of child sexual abuse – a first degree felony charge of forcible sodomy.
—
From the Deseret News on July 15, 2000:
“ST. GEORGE — An LDS bishop accused of failing to report child sexual abuse has signed a diversion agreement with the Washington County Attorney’s Office.
Under the agreement, the Class B misdemeanor charge against Brent Atkinson will be dismissed if he abides by terms of the agreement for one year, said Deputy County Attorney Tara Dugan.
The agreement calls for Atkinson to do 100 hours of community service, commit no law violations and pay $250 in court administration fees.
Dugan and defense attorney Lowry Snow both called it an appropriate resolution.
According to Justice Court records, the incident happened in the town of Central between August 1998 and January 2000.
Dugan said she could not comment on the circumstances, as they relate to a pending case — that of David Marlen McGhie.
McGhie, 36, was arrested in January and charged with forcible sexual abuse and forcible sodomy.
Two other LDS bishops in Utah have been charged this year with failing to report child sexual abuse.”
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Sources
- Arrests: Washington County Sheriff's Office,
- LDS bishop signs diversion in child-abuse-reporting case,
- David Marlen McGhie,
Documents
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Criminal case documents
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Other Mormon sex abuse cases
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- John Goodrich (1959 – ) was a former Mormon bishop and dentist in Idaho; accused of child sexual abuse and of having nonconsensual sex with a woman he admitting to drugging; given a withheld judgment; in 2023, the AP reported that the church paid $300,000 to a victim and her mother under conditions of secrecy; in 2024, a criminal case opened in Virginia; in December 2025, another alleged victim sued the church
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- Geoffrey Ashdown (1947 – ) was a Mormon bishop and deputy school principal in Australia; convicted after alleged sexual abuse of two boys; the alleged abuse took place while Ashdown was a bishop; died in 2012
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- Timothy McCleve (1956 – ) was a former Mormon bishop in Harrisville, Utah when he was charged with sexually abusing three children; some of the abuse took place while he was bishop; sentenced in 2008 to up to 30 years in prison for child sexual abuse; in 2024, charged in Utah with threatening a witness in a parole violation investigation
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