Summary
Todd Summers allegedly abused his victim in an LDS chapel and other places.
1990, Costa Mesa, California
“Plaintiff John Doe states that pedophile Todd Summers molested him in the LDS Church and several other places from 1990 to 1999. The LDS Church settled with the plaintiff for $100,000.00 said his attorney Vince Finaldi. The suit was originally filed in 2008 and then amended in 2009.
“The plaintiff claims he was molested from the time he was 12 until he was 18 and older and was threatened by Summers pointing a gun in the boy’s mouth. According to the suit, Church officials should have known that Summers behavior was inappropriate and the church failed to protect children from this pedophile. Summers was a videographer for the church and a Elder of the LDS Church.”
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Alleged coverup-
LDS church payment: $100,000
- Criminal: Never charged,
- Civil: Lawsuit v. LDS church, Settlement,
- Positions: Missionary,
- During alleged crime: Unknown position,
- When accused: Unknown position,
- Alleged crime: 1990s, in California,
- Crime scenes: LDS building, Public, Victim's home,
- Victims: 1 victim,
- Mission: United States Ohio Cleveland
- Places: California,
Sources
- No charges for church member,
- Parents settle with accuser,
- Church settles with plaintiff,
- Abuse lawsuit dropped,
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1. No charges for church member
Due to a lack of evidence, criminal investigators are not filing charges against a Newport Beach Mormon church member accused of molesting a boy in the congregation, according to prosecutors.
Newport Beach and Costa Mesa police investigated Todd C. Summers, 37, of Costa Mesa, for accusations that he had carried on a sexual relationship with a boy in the church. Newport Beach police determined that any potential crimes occurred in Costa Mesa, Sgt. Evan Sailor said. Costa Mesa detectives investigated the claims and turned over their findings to prosecutors, who declined to file charges.
Summers, a former Sheriff’s Department reserve officer, was also investigated by the department on allegations that he used his authority to enter a young boy’s home, he said in a deposition. Charges were not filed in that case. Summers and the department severed ties last year, said department spokesman Jim Amormino.
It’s all simply a case of stonewalling authorities, according to Vince Finaldi, the attorney representing the plaintiff in a civil suit against Summers. Finaldi’s client is accusing Summers of molesting him for nearly a decade, starting when the boy was 11 or 12 years old. The plaintiff, referred to in the lawsuit as John Doe, is seven years younger than Summers.
Summers was never charged because he refused to cooperate with Costa Mesa detectives and the Mormon church hid behind its lawyers, hindering any investigation, Finaldi said.
Summers’ lawyer did not return calls for comment.
The plaintiff sued Summers, his parents and leaders of the Mormon church in April 2008. While Summers is the only one accused of carrying on the improper relationship, the man maintains that Summers’ parents and church leaders enabled the relationship to continue.
Summers runs TCS Video in Costa Mesa, a videography company that lists many organizations, including the Boy Scouts of America and the school district as its client.
Robert Crockett, attorney for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, said no one had ever complained about Summers before his accuser came forward in 2007. Church leaders never noticed anything inappropriate about Summers’ behavior.
The man’s claims are spelled out in his sworn deposition. He told attorneys Summers’ parents should have known of the relationship because Summers would put his fingers in his mouth, would lie in bed with him and take him to his room and lock the door. The man claims that Summers would lock the door, turn on pornography then orally copulate the boy, who was a teenager at the time. Summers’ accuser said the abuse continued until he was 20 or 21 years old because Summers had an inexplicable “hold” over him.
When the man did approach church leaders in 2007 with his claims, about seven years after the alleged incidents, the investigation was laughable, Finaldi said. He pointed to a top church official’s explanation of how he investigated the claim:
“When I met with Todd in, I guess it was January, and discussed the things that had been brought up...at that point in time I had to make a determination of whether I felt I needed to proceed with acting upon this, believing that I needed to proceed,” said Weatherford Clayton, president of the Newport Beach stake of the Mormon church in a deposition.
“And as I asked him questions carefully and when I heard his answers — and I did my best with my experience and with trying to feel what the Spirit is telling me — I thought I could believe him...so, at that point in time, there was no reason to start a file” of a complaint, Clayton said.
Clayton told Finaldi that the church’s instructions for leaders is to call a hotline number, not authorities, when sexual molestation complaints come up. This was the first time he ever had to call it, Clayton said.
“The point of the abuse line is to help us go through and do the right things with the authorities. We have lawyers there and I know now it’s with [his lawyer’s] firm. When the contact goes through, it goes to Kirton & McConkie,” he said. “They help us know how to navigate those waters.”
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2. Parents settle with accuser
The parents of a Costa Mesa man accused of a molesting a boy in the 1990s have settled a civil lawsuit brought by the accuser.
Pamela Summers and Roger Summers, parents of Todd Summers, were dismissed last month from the unnamed accuser’s suit against the family and the Mormon church. The suit claims that they all had a part in the boy’s sexual abuse over 10 years, starting in 1990.
The parents’ settlement with the accuser narrows the suit to only Todd Summers; a judge threw out the claims against the Mormon church earlier this year. Summers is a local videographer whose clients have included local children’s clubs and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.
According to the suit filed in court last year, Summers abused a boy seven years his junior while the two attended a Mormon church in Costa Mesa. The suit alleges that because of Summers’ behavior, church officials should have been aware of the alleged abuse. The accuser had also claimed that Summers abused him in Summers’ parents home and that his parents should’ve been aware of it and stopped it.
Police never arrested or charged Summers in relation to the allegations.
Court documents show that Vince Finaldi, attorney for the accuser, who is referred to as John Doe, filed motions to dismiss the parents from the suit on Nov. 25 after the settlement. Finaldi’s client has also settled with the Summers’ business.
Earlier this year, a judge threw out the claims against the Mormon church. Finaldi has since appealed that ruling.
The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial early next year, but will likely get postponed pending the result of Finaldi’s appeal on the church’s involvement.
Pamela Summers said the case is “bogus.” Finaldi declined comment.
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3. Church settles with plaintiff
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has settled with a man who claimed in a lawsuit that its leaders protected a Mormon Church counselor, who allegedly molested him for more than eight years when he was a child. Some of the alleged abuse occurred inside its Costa Mesa church.
On Thursday, the Mormon church finalized its settlement with the unnamed plaintiff for $100,000, said the man’s attorney, Vince Finaldi.
“In the civil system, that’s how we help compensate people for the damages they’ve suffered, with money,” Finaldi said. “That’s how you end up paying for the things that are going to help with his recovery.”
The claims against the church were originally thrown out by a Orange County Superior Court judge last year.
“Churches are simply not responsible for the misdeeds of their members, without more specific facts that are not even alleged in this case,” Judge Ronald Bauer wrote in dismissing the claims.
Finaldi appealed the ruling.
Bob Crockett, the attorney representing the church, said the settlement was a dollar and cents issue when it came time to fight the appeal.
It would’ve cost more than $100,000 to file a brief arguing their position to the court of appeal, so they just offered Finaldi’s client the money instead, Crockett said.
“The church’s position is that there was no molestation ever,” Crockett said.
The settlement leaves only one defendant: Todd Summers of Costa Mesa. Finaldi’s client, who is seven years Summers’ junior, accuses Summers of molesting him inside the church, at Summers’ parents home and in the family’s Newport Beach business from 1990 to 1999.
Summers’ parents and the family business were also named in the lawsuit, but they have all settled with the accuser. The terms of those settlements are confidential.
Finaldi said he plans to take the case to trial this year.
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4. Abuse lawsuit dropped
A man who accused a Newport Beach videographer of molesting him when he was a child and teenager in the 1990s has dropped his lawsuit.
A man identified as John Doe in a suit accusing Todd Summers of molesting him at a Mormon church in Costa Mesa and in Summers’ parents’ home and their business was dismissed Thursday without a settlement or any money exchanged, attorneys said. Criminal charges were never filed by police, who cited a lack of evidence.
Though exact ages were not available, the plaintiff is in his early 30s and Summers is in his early 40s, according to an attorney handling the case.
The lawsuit also named the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and its Salt Lake City headquarters, claiming the church had a responsibility to prevent the alleged abuse. The church settled with the plaintiff for $100,000 in late March.
Summers’ parents and their business properties were also named.
Each party settled out of court, said Vince Finaldi, who represented the plaintiff.
The only one who did not settle with the accuser was Summers.
“I’m glad that a friend of mine, who frankly, after our complete investigation, was totally blameless was vindicated with a dismissal,” said Steven Young, Summers’ attorney. “We are gratified that this is finally over ... I think it was a conscious business decision on their part that [taking it to trial] just wasn’t worth it.”
“In the end, we’ve got to make a decision. We can spend a lot more money, a lot more time and effort battling this out. But in the end, Todd’s completely insolvent,” Finaldi said.
The accusations against the church were thrown out earlier in the case, but Finaldi appealed.
Bob Crockett, who represented the church in court, said it was simply cheaper to settle with Finaldi’s client than to fight the appeal.
Summers’ attorneys, Young and Jim Mahacek, claim that Finaldi dropped the suit because their client was innocent.
Costa Mesa police investigated and never charged Summers with molesting his accuser, who is seven years his junior.
Finaldi maintains Summers did abuse his client. Summers introduced the boy to the Mormon church.
In e-mails provided to the Daily Pilot, Finaldi and Mahacek bickered over an agreement that the suit against Summers would be dropped if they lost their appeal regarding the Mormon church. Each man argues that the church settling would make him de facto winners of the case.
“Indeed, Doe would have never agreed to a stipulation requiring him to dismiss action against Mr. Summers ... in the event of a settlement of the appeal,” Finaldi wrote to Mahacek on March 30. “Such would be a preposterous and obviously unjust result.”
Mahacek called the case “meritless” and said the case should have been dropped earlier.
In another e-mail sent 12 days later, Finaldi accused Mahacek of relying on the technicality of their agreement to avoid trial.
Mahacek said that either Finaldi and his client took a bad risk with their agreement to drop the case if they did not win the appeal, did not understand what they were getting into, or that Finaldi simply lost.
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