David Mark Novak

Sources

1. Former LDS social worker is released from jail, Davis County Clipper, April 11, 2000.
2. Former counselor is accused of sexually abusing girl, Deseret News, January 6, 1999.
3. Judge allows ex-LDS therapist to leave jail Novak promises no further harm, will get counseling, Deseret News, April 7, 2000.
4. W. Bountiful social worker admits to sexually abusing 13-year-old girl, Deseret News, December 24, 1999.
5. Former LDS Social Services counselor charged with sexual abuse, The Herald-Journal, January 6, 1999.

• 1. Former LDS social worker is released from jail

  • 20000411
  • News article
  • Davis County Clipper

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  FARMINGTON (AP) - A former social worker who was employed by the Mormon church has been released from jail after serving about 40 days for sexually abusing a child.

  A judge granted David Novak's request for release on Tuesday.

  "The experience being here haas been the hardest experience in my life," Novak told 2nd District Judge Jon Memmott.

  "I will make sure that I will never, ever harm anyone again."

  Memmott placed Novak under the supervision of the sex offender unit of Adult Probation and Parole.

  Novak pleaded guilty in December to forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony, for assaulting a 13-year-old girl. He was sentenced to one year in jail and three years probation at a Feb 16 hearing.

  "I just don't think jail is going to serve any purpose here," his attorney John Walsh told the court.

  Novak must complete an intensive sex offender treatment program.

  "I want, more than anything to change," Novak told the court.

  "Therapists sometimes need therapy."

  He was a counselor of child sex abuse victims for LDS Social Services.

  Novak surrendered his license as a clinical social worker to the Utah Department of Occupational and Professional Licensing on March 7. He cannot reapply for five years.

  Novak also has been excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which Walsh said "he dearly loved and which he admitted he shamed."

• 2. Former counselor is accused of sexually abusing girl

  • 19990106
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  • Deseret News

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  A former LDS Church Social Services counselor has been charged with sexually abusing a teenage relative over a 12-month period.

  David Mark Novak, 47, West Bountiful, was charged in 2nd District Court last month with two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony. If convicted, Novak could be sentenced to spend up to life in prison.According to the charges, Novak abused a 13-year-old girl between October 1994 and October 1995, a time during which he "occupied a position of special trust with the victim."

  West Bountiful police detective Pat Jellerson said Novak had been a counselor for LDS Social Services for 17 years but was not counseling the victim. Novak resigned from his position the day before police confronted him with the allegations in November, Jellerson said.

  The victim was abused on at least three occasions between the ages of 12 and 13.

  The girl, who is now 16, told police that when she was 12 years old, she and Novak were in her mother's room playing dress-up, Jellerson said. The girl said Novak dressed in a miniskirt, exposed himself and described sex acts.

  Several months later, when the girl was 13, Novak invited her to sit next to him on a living room couch at her house, Jellerson said. When she sat next to him, he took her hand and forced her to fondle him.

  In the third incident, Novak walked into the girl's bedroom, shut the door and approached her, Jellerson said. When the girl refused him, he threw her against a wall in the corner of the room. Then he began to fondle her until someone arrived at the house, and he stopped.

  Novak warned the girl not to tell anybody or "it would get worse," Jellerson said. "She told me she thought the suspect was going to rape her."

  The girl told her mother about the abuse after the third incident, but "it was nothing like what had actually occurred," Jellerson said. The version the mother heard was basically what had occurred on the first incident.

  The mother, unaware of the full extent of the abuse, prohibited Novak from being alone with the girl, Jellerson said.

  "In her mind, she did what was best for the family," Jellerson said.

  The girl was living with her grandparents in October, about three years after the abuse, when she saw a Benchmark Hospital's crisis hot-line advertisement on TV for abused children, said Police Chief Quinn Lewis. She called the hot line and a meeting was arranged with a Division of Child and Family Services counselor at the high school she attends.

  The DCFS counselor subsequently contacted police.

  Novak's defense attorney, Ken Brown, did not return calls when contacted for comment.
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  Novak had given LDS Social Services two weeks' notice on Nov. 6 because he was aware of the investigation and knew "there would be some type of consequences, since he knew how sex abuse cases worked," Jellerson said.

  LDS Church spokesman Don LeFevre confirmed Novak is no longer employed with LDS Social Services and said it would be inappropriate to comment on the case while it is still unresolved.

  "But I would like to emphasize the fact that the church has long been on record as abhorring abuse in any form," LeFevre said. "We hold our members to the highest standards of self-disciplined behavior and sexual purity."

  Novak is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Jan. 13 before Judge Jon Memmott.

• 3. Judge allows ex-LDS therapist to leave jail Novak promises no further harm, will get counseling

  • 20000407
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  • Deseret News

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  FARMINGTON -- Flanked by a dozen family members and his attorney, David Mark Novak stood before a judge Tuesday in blue jail garb asking for the chance to become a normal member of society.

  The 40-plus days the former LDS social services counselor spent in the Davis County Jail for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl has changed him, he said."The experience being here has been the hardest experience in my life," Novak told 2nd District Judge Jon Memmott. "I will make sure that I will never, ever harm anyone again."

  After hearing arguments from Novak and his attorney, Memmott released Novak from jail and placed him under the supervision of the sex offender unit of Adult Probation and Parole.

  Novak pleaded guilty in December to forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony, and was sentenced to one year in jail and three years probation at a Feb. 16 hearing.

  On Tuesday, Novak's attorney, John Walsh, argued successfully for his client's release.

  "I just don't think jail is going to serve any purpose here," Walsh told the court.

  Novak will now live with an aunt and uncle in Salt Lake County and must complete an intensive sex-offender treatment program.

  "I want, more than anything, to change," Novak told the court. "Therapists sometimes need therapy."

  Novak surrendered his license as a clinical social worker to the Utah Department of Occupational and Professional Licensing on March 7. He cannot reapply for five years. Novak also has been excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, which Walsh said, "he dearly loved and which he admitted he shamed."

  Family members say they are ready to move on and help Novak do the same.

  "He has a lot of family support," said a teary-eyed Jim Healey, Novak's brother-in-law. "I've had a hard time with the news media because they really abused him, but he wants to start over. We want him to start over. He wants to start over, and I think that's the biggest thing."

  When news of Novak's abuse broke, several media outlets in Utah reported the incident.

  According to court documents, Novak abused the 13-year-old girl between October 1994 and October 1995, a time during which he "occupied a position of special trust with the victim."
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  Although Novak is out of jail, he must complete sex offender treatment and have no contact with girls under the age of 18.

  If Novak violates the terms of probation, prison is where he's headed, Walsh said.

  But family members insist that won't happen. They described Novak as a "kind" and "service-oriented" person.

  "That's why he got into counseling," Healey said.

• 4. W. Bountiful social worker admits to sexually abusing 13-year-old girl

  • 19991224
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  • Deseret News

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  FARMINGTON (AP) -- A licensed social worker who was employed by the LDS Church has admitted to sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.

  David Novak, 48, of West Bountiful, pleaded guilty to second-degree felony sexual abuse of a child in 2nd District Court Tuesday.In exchange for his plea, deputy Davis County attorney Bill McGuire dropped a pair of first-degree felony charges of aggravated sexual abuse of a child.

  The plea agreement will keep Novak out of prison, even though the recommended sentence on the second-degree felony charge is one to 15 years in prison. Second District Judge Jon Memmott could sentence Novak to a year in the Davis County Jail.

  Novak's attorney, Ken Brown, said he will argue for three years of probation at a Feb. 1 sentencing. McGuire said he will not recommend jail time. "It's adequate because of the facts of the case," McGuire said.

  Novak was accused of exposing himself repeatedly to the 13-year-old girl and touching her breasts.

  In court, Novak admitted through his lawyer to having taken "indecent liberties" with the girl during 1994 and 1995, when he was employed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a counselor for sexually abused children.

  Novak's victim was not a patient of LDS Social Services, the agency that employed him. Novak quit the job in December 1998 when the allegations surfaced.
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  Novak is still licensed by the Utah Department of Occupational and Professional Licensing as a clinical social worker, said agency spokesman Kim Morris.

  Morris said he could not say whether Novak was under investigation. He did say that a felony guilty plea would not automatically take away Novak's license.

  "This is an entirely different legal process," Morris said.

  Tuesday's court proceedings did not indicate whether Novak is employed or still working as a counselor.

• 5. Former LDS Social Services counselor charged with sexual abuse

  • 19990106
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  • The Herald-Journal

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  Former LDS Social Services counselor charged with sexual abuse
  WEST BOUNTIFUL (AP) — A longtime counselor of child sex abuse victims for LDS Social Services has been charged with aggravated sexual abuse of a child.

  David Mark Novak, a 47-year-old West Bountiful resident, had worked the last 12 years as a counselor for the Mormon church’s social services agency when he resigned last month after the allegations came to light.

  Novak is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony. West Bountiful police allege Novak began abusing an 11-year-old girl until she was 13, when the girl told her mother. The alleged abuse stopped at that time, but the mother never contacted police. The girl is now 16.

  Although police say Novak initially admitted to abusing the girl, he now denies the allegations and has hired defense attorney Kenneth Brown, who did not return telephone inquiries.

  Detective Pat Jellerson said police found out about the alleged abuse a few months ago after the girl called the Benchmark Hospital’s crisis hot line. Counselors from the state’s Division of Child and Family Services interviewed the girl and eventually turned the case over to police. When police questioned Novak, the suspect admitted to the abuse and even began to psychoanalyze himself, Jellerson said.

  “He admitted he needed counseling,” Jellerson said, but didn’t think what he allegedly did was bad enough to warrant a jail term.

  “The funny part was that he sat there and began telling me what was wrong with him,” Jellerson said.

  Church spokesman Don LeFevre declined to comment on the charges.

  Police say they found photos of Novak wearing women’s clothing. The girl told police he allegedly had a habit of cross-dressing and then exposing himself to her.