Shawn Noble Frost

Shawn Frost Mormon Sex Crime Case Summary

Shawn Frost was a Mormon church member in Virginia.

Frost served an LDS mission in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

BREAKING 2023-07-31: $10.3 million lawsuit filed. Source

Shawn Frost allegedly took two 14 year old boys from Loudoun County, Virginia to Clearwater, Florida to attend a sporting event and allegedly had sexual contact with one of them.

Frost held various stake level positions in the Ashburn, Virginia stake, including the Stake Clerk’s office and stake Young Men’s presidency. He was also a partner at Ernst and Young CPA firm.

As of December 2022, he was out on bail and awaiting trial.

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From the Loudoun Times-Mirror on 2023-07-31:

“When Leesburg resident Shawn Noble Frost was accused of molesting two boys in Clearwater Beach, Florida in September 2022, it confirmed the worst fears of a Leesburg couple, according to a $10.3 million lawsuit they filed against Frost and his wife, Alyson Frost.

The couple allege Shawn Frost molested their three young children while he and his wife were babysitting them.

“Shawn Frost is a monster who has committed horrific sexual abuse against young children,” said the lawsuit, written by filed in January by attorney A. Joseph Jay III in Loudoun County Circuit Court. “Alyson Frost discovered and/or knows about such abuse.”
Shawn Noble Frost

Shawn Noble Frost
Courtesy Photo/Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office

In October 2022, Frost was charged in Pinellas County Court in Clearwater with sexual activity, lewd or lascivious exhibition, lewd or lascivious molestation, and lewd or lascivious molestation involving a child between the ages of 12 and 16, according to court records.

The charges came after the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office contacted the Clearwater Police Department, according to the Tampa Bay Newspapers Weekly.

In the Florida case, Frost is accused of performing a sex act on one of the boys in September 2022, according to a criminal complaint. It said the boy, aged between 12 and 16, was sleeping and another boy in the room witnessed the alleged act. Frost is also accused of masturbating in front of the boys.

Frost, a 53-year-old Leesburg resident, has pleaded not guilty. He is free on bond and scheduled to stand trial in Pinellas County on Jan. 30.

Attorney Charles L. King, who represents Frost in the lawsuit, said his client denies molesting the three Leesburg children. Attorney John C. Whitbeck Jr., who represents Alyson Frost, wouldn’t comment on the allegations.

Jay wrote that the couple moved to Leesburg in 2020 and attended The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints’ Leesburg Ward. The Leesburg Ward church, which is not a party to the lawsuit, is located on Balls Bluff Road off Battlefield Parkway in Leesburg.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Leesburg Ward

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Leesburg Ward at 801 Balls Bluff Road NE in Leesburg.
Times-Mirror/Evan Goodenow

Jay said the church assigned the Frosts as a “ministering brother” and “ministering sister” to the couple. Each couple in the church is assigned a ministering brother and sister who provide individualized needs, according to the Salt Lake City, Utah-based church website.

In the case of the couple — identified through the pseudonyms James and Judy Doe — their needs included babysitting after the woman suffered an illness during the pregnancy of her fourth child in July 2021. The suit said Alyson Frost babysat the couple’s other three children, all under six-years-old, at least 15 times between April 2021 and August 2022.

The couple said the children began behaving strangely after spending time with the Frosts, according to the suit. Despite being potty-trained, the middle child began randomly urinating, experienced bouts of rage and drew a large penis on the couple’s driveway. The oldest son became depressed and quiet.

The couple became concerned about Shawn Frost beginning in February 2022 after hearing troubling allegations about him. Among the allegations listed in the suit:

Frost bought phones for young boys so they could speak with him privately.
Frost sent “grooming” emails and texts to young boys.
Frost sat alone in a hot tub with a boy while wearing only a towel.
Frost invited young boys on a trip to South Carolina where he would act as a chaperone despite church policy calling for more than one chaperone on trips.

“When the Doe parents heard these stories, they brushed their fears off as an overreaction,” Jay wrote. “After all, the defendants had been assigned to help them by their church and defendant Shawn Frost was a youth minister at the church.”

The suit said the couple learned in the summer of 2022 that Shawn Frost had been spending a lot of time with their children. They said he texted the father a photo of the children and said he’d watched them all day. On another occasion, the mother said Alyson Frost said her husband was in the basement playing with the children.

In August 2022, the couple said their boys begged not to go while being driven to the Frost’s home and the younger boy complained his “butt hurt” after a visit to the Frosts. After two visits to the Frost’s home in August 2022, the couple said their girl complained about vaginal pain.

After hearing of the Florida allegations in September 2022, the suit said the couple questioned their children. The younger boy alleged Shawn Frost touched his penis and used a device on his anus. The couple then contacted the LCSO.

Michele Bowman, an LCSO spokeswoman, wrote in an email that the office received a complaint involving minors on Sept. 30, 2022. Detectives later consulted with the county commonwealth’s attorney’s office, but Bowman said Frost wasn’t prosecuted due to a lack of evidence.

“The LCSO has no active investigations with Mr. Frost,” she said. “[But] we want victims of sexual assault to know that services are available, and the LCSO has a dedicated unit of detectives trained to investigate crimes of this nature.”

Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj wrote in an email that the children were interviewed at the Loudoun Child Advocacy Center but didn’t say during that interview that they were molested.

Biberaj said the parents were dissatisfied with the interview and retained a private expert.

Jay wrote that the boys were interviewed individually by Ashburn-based clinical psychologist Michael Oberschneider in October 2022. The suit says Oberschneider — whose website says he’s spent 12 years working with children — concluded “it seems very likely” that Frost molested the boys.

However, Biberaj said there wasn’t enough probable cause to charge Frost. She said police typically present allegations to a magistrate who determines if there is probable cause, but in “limited cases” police consult with prosecutors before seeking charges.

“In guiding law enforcement, we rely on the information that is provided to us to determine if additional evidence is necessary for a successful prosecution,” Biberaj wrote. “A matter may require further investigation and additional facts to support a criminal charge. When there is evidence to establish probable cause, law enforcement are so advised.”

Also in October 2022, the suit said the couple’s daughter described previously being raped by Frost and the younger boy said Frost raped him. The boy said Frost locked the children in a bedroom and took turns raping them. He said Alyson Frost walked into the bedroom at one point, “but did nothing to stop it.”

In November 2022, the boys said Shawn Frost previously hit them while on the Frost’s indoor basketball court. They said Alyson Frost witnessed the alleged abuse, but didn’t stop it. Later in November, the suit said Shawn Frost threatened the boys while free on bond.

“Frost showed each of the children a gun and threatened to kill them and their family if they told anyone about the sexual abuse he committed against them,” Jay wrote. “Frost told Jack Doe (the older boy) he had videos of the sexual abuse that he would show everyone if Jack told anyone about the abuse. Defendant Shawn Frost asked Jack Doe if he told his parents about the sexual abuse and told him that he would ‘cut them up.'”

In a May court filing, Jay said Shawn Frost repeatedly refused to be deposed in the case and said his excuses were a “stalling tactic.” In a brief interview, Jay said the lawsuit was ongoing.

Allegations of sexual abuse in the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose website says it has 17 million members worldwide, have been made around the nation. A 2022 Associated Press investigation documented how church leaders in Arizona and West Virginia covered up abuse.

In April, a California woman who said church leaders failed to report her stepfather repeatedly sexually assaulted her when she was a girl won a nearly $2.3 million lawsuit with the church paying $1 million, according to the AP. The church didn’t admit wrongdoing.
Leesburg Mormon Church sign

A sign outside the Leesburg Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Leesburg.
Times-Mirror/Evan Goodenow

No one at the Leesburg Ward church responded to an inquiry from the Times-Mirror.

Sam Penrod, a spokesman for the national church, didn’t answer a series of emailed questions. They included queries about the Leesburg church, the national church’s protocol for ministering brothers and sisters and youth ministers and about national complaints from victims of sexual abuse that the church is slow to report allegations of abuse or attempts to cover them up.

In a written statement, Penrod said the church has “zero tolerance for abuse of any kind” and “actively works” to prevent it.”