Help FLOODLIT grow!
We expose abusers, document coverups and help survivors tell their stories.
Your donations fund our non-profit research and reporting.
Learn more »Summary
James Hanifin was a mormon in Boulder, Colorado. It has been reported to Floodlit that James groomed a teenage girl in his ward. The teenage girl’s mother was in the hospital and ill with cancer and during her hospital stays the teenage girl was invited over to James’s residence. One evening the girl attended dinner and didn’t know until she arrived James’s wife was away. She ate dinner with James and ate or drank something that made her feel dizzy and passed out. She said she awoke on the couch to James sexually assaulting her. He wouldn’t let her leave until he gave her a blessing with oil, so the lord would forgive her because she tempted him (James). He would not allow her to leave the home until he knew she was forgiven by God. He also stated if she told anyone she would be excommunicated. She said she faked falling asleep for a few minutes, woke and pretended not to have any idea what happened. It was then James allowed the girl to go home. The girl reported it to her bishop who did indeed punish her by not giving her a temple recommend to attend a youth temple trip. However, it has been reported James was one of the adult chaperones for that same temple trip the teenage girl was unable to attend.
Browse the Mormon Sexual Abuse Database
Browse the Mormon sexual abuse database »View the Mormon Sexual Abuse Map
International map of locations where active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints perpetrated or allegedly perpetrated sexual abuse or other sex crimes, or where LDS leaders failed or allegedly failed to help abuse survivors.
Visit the FLOODLIT Map