Alleged crime: 2010s, 
Alleged crime county:
crime-county-ca-el-dorado, - Alleged crime state:
California,
LDS positions: Bishop, Missionary, - During alleged crime: Unknown position,
- LDS mission:
Hong Kong - Hong Kong - Alleged:
1 victim,
- Alleged crime scenes:
Victim's home,
- Criminal case(s): Jury trial, Ongoing,
- Civil case(s): Unknown result,
- AKA Alan R Andrus, Roman Andrus
updated Nov 17, 2025 - request update | add info
Alleged crime: 
Alleged crime county:
Alleged crime state:
LDS positions: 
Alleged:
Alleged crime scenes:
Alan Andrus (AKA Roman Andrus) was a Latter-day Saint bishop from at least 2005 to 2007 in the El Dorado Hills Ward, El Dorado California Stake. (Sources: 2005 official Mormon church leadership directory in FLOODLIT’s possession; Village Life in Placerville, California, Jan. 17, 2007, p. 11.)
In 2020, Andrus was arrested and accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a victim in El Dorado County, California in 2019. Andrus was not a bishop at the time of the alleged crime.
As of Oct. 31, 2025, the case disposition is still pending; a jury is set to deliberate.
Andrus’s father-in law, Kieth Merrill, was commissioned by the LDS church’s First Presidency to produce the films Legacy and The Testaments, and has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Southern Virginia University and president of the BYU Alumni Association.
FLOODLIT is keeping track of this court case – El Dorado County case #P20CRF0225 in California.
Have any info on this or other Mormon sex abuse cases? Contact us.
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Sources
- BYU GRAD STUDENT READY TO BEGIN PRO HOOP CAREER IN JAPAN,
- temple wedding announcement of the accused,
- Arrest Information for Alan Roman Andrus,
- Closing arguments made in ex-bishop's sex abuse case,
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1. BYU GRAD STUDENT READY TO BEGIN PRO HOOP CAREER IN JAPAN
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2. temple wedding announcement of the accused
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3. Arrest Information for Alan Roman Andrus
Arrested For 289(E) - Rape By Foreign Object: (V) Intoxicated
Arrest Date May 9, 2020 -
4. Closing arguments made in ex-bishop's sex abuse case
A jury is expected to begin deliberations soon in the trial of People v. Alan Andrus, a former bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a church member in 2019.
Andrus’ term as bishop had concluded by the time of the alleged event. He faces three charges: one count of sexual penetration with a foreign object or substance when the victim is intoxicated, one count of attempted sexual penetration under the same circumstances and one count of sexual battery. Prosecutors Kassie Cardullo and Blair Gue of the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office lead the case, while Linda Parisi of Sacramento’s Wing and Parisi Law represents Andrus.
According to testimony, Andrus allegedly supplied Ambien to the victim, identified as Jane Doe, on June 4, 2019, and touched her sexual parts as she drifted in and out of consciousness at her El Dorado Hills home. During closing arguments, Cardullo walked jurors through the evidence and said Andrus’ own words left no reasonable doubt about his guilt.
Jurors heard an audio recording Doe made the day after the reported incident in which Andrus appears to describe the effects of Ambien on her and others.
“You know what’s great? Is I can’t wait until it kicks in, because then you do what I say. If I say you dance with a pencil, you’re going to dance with a pencil,” Andrus is heard saying on the recording. He's also recorded as telling Doe, “It would be like if someone spiked your drink, you didn’t know you were drinking alcohol so there is no sin.”
In the same conversation, when Doe asked whether she could have consented to sexual activity, Andrus replied, “No.” He also described using Ambien with his wife.
“Sometimes she’s not in the mood. I get that. But now it’s so awesome, because if she’s not in the mood she knows in 15 minutes she will be,” Andrus said about his wife.
Prosecutors also presented testimony from a second woman, Jane Doe 2, who alleged that Andrus sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s while the two attended Brigham Young University in Utah. She said she awoke to find Andrus digitally penetrating her vagina, causing her to freeze out of fear.
The defense urged jurors to question the credibility of both women and the thoroughness of the investigation.
“There was a victim in this courtroom; it was the truth,” Parisi told jurors.
She argued that while Andrus and Doe both engaged in infidelity, “That is not a crime.”
Parisi points to a video from Doe the night of the incident, allegedly showing her dancing — evidence the defense maintains contradicts her story. Parisi also pointed to the lack of physical evidence, including the absence of male DNA on a tampon Doe provided to police.
“This is not the voice of a victim; it is the voice of a storyteller,” Parisi said.
The defense also disputes that Doe had been drugged, arguing she voluntarily took Ambien and continued interacting with Andrus afterward, even visiting his home to pick up her son. Parisi reminded jurors that inconsistencies and missing evidence should lead to one conclusion: “We have questions about this investigation, and when you have questions, you have a reasonable doubt.”
Closing arguments were expected to conclude on Thursday, Oct. 30, and it is expected that the jury will begin deliberating shortly after.
Documents
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Criminal case documents
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