was an LDS church member in Bountiful, Utah; accused of child sexual abuse

Case report

Brenda Miles was a Mormon church member in Bountiful, Utah.

Miles and her husband Richard Miles were accused in a 2018 civil lawsuit of sexually abusing children at “touching parties.”

The lawsuit was dismissed in 2020 because the claims fell outside of the statute of limitations.

(A previous version of this case report stated that the case was overturned; it was not.)

Case facts

Case information sources

  1. Decades-old Bountiful case alleges church connection to abuse allegations
    view source details | 3 Oct 2018 | Deseret News
  2. Supreme Court rules it can’t retroactively apply law that extends statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases
    view source details | 12 Jun 2020 | Salt Lake Tribune

Case information source details

  • Decades-old Bountiful case alleges church connection to abuse allegations
    Publisher: Deseret News
    Date: 3 Oct 2018
    Archive.org
    Source type: News article

    Three of the plaintiffs allege that the plaintiffs' father and the Mileses were part of a group who sexually assaulted them as children when their ages ranged from newborn to 8 years old. The alleged assaults took place at "touching parties" at homes in the Mueller Park area of Bountiful, according to the complaint.

    Within hours on Wednesday, the Mileses filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The motion said the plaintiffs' claims are "false and horrific" and are barred by the statute of limitations.

    The lawsuit included nine exhibits. Six are declarations made by the children or stepchildren. The other three are from their mothers and a psychiatrist who treated the children in 1986.

    Three children allege in signed exhibits that they remember being sexually assaulted in the touching parties by their father, their paternal grandmother, the Mileses, a teenage babysitter and numerous others.

    Two stepchildren say they were raped by their stepfather.

    One child and one stepchild say they don't remember being assaulted but were told they were by their siblings, parents and therapists.

    A seventh child provided an exhibit, but she is not listed as a plaintiff in the suit.

  • view all information sources
    Supreme Court rules it can’t retroactively apply law that extends statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases
    Publisher: Salt Lake Tribune
    Date: 12 Jun 2020
    Archive.org
    Source type: News article

    The Utah Supreme Court has ruled that a plaintiff’s claims in a high-profile child sex abuse lawsuit against a former federal judge aren’t valid because the claims fall outside of the statute of limitations, despite a 2016 law change meant to give alleged victims of child sex crimes more time to bring up accusations.

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