was an LDS church member in Idaho; pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse; sentenced to 30 years in prison; Mormon leaders failed to report abuse to police

About Steve Nelson

Steve Nelson Mormon Sex Crime Case Summary

01/30/80 Boise, Idaho

LDS Steve Nelson “sexually abused as many as four children over a 30-year period. In the
1980s Nelson confessed to molesting one child to LDS officials, who learned of the crime
from the victim but did not report it.

More than 20 years later, Nelson pleaded guilty to a charge of lewd conduct. In 2009, the
woman he had abused as a pre-teenager in the 1980s caught him molesting a 3-year-old
girl, according to court records.

Before sending Nelson to 30 years in prison, 4th District Judge Darla Williamson told him: “1
just don’t understand … why the church didn’t require that law enforcement be involved with
you. Possibly at that point, if you had been charged, we would have at least one less
victim.”

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