Shon M Ricks

Shon Ricks Mormon Sex Crime Case Summary

06/01/97 – Utah

LDS church member Shon M. Ricks “was found guilty by a Salt Lake City jury of molesting a 6-year-old girl in February 1997. Citing Ricks’ severe heart condition, the judge reduced his two second-degree felony convictions to third-degree felonies, which carry a maximum sentence of five years rather than the 15 years he could have received.

Then when Ricks, a Mormon, came up for parole in a hearing last August, his friends, relatives and church leaders reportedly filled the room.

The reason: Mormon leaders contended that Ricks was sufficiently rehabilitated after less than two years in prison to receive a church “call” to a mission in Chile.” “The parole board chairman, also a Mormon pushed for the early release-which the full board later approved- and Ricks was freed over the objections of the victim’s father, who also is a Mormon.”

“Ricks remains free, although the church scrapped the mission assignment after a high-ranking Mormon official in Salt Lake City intervened.”