LDS positions: Bishop, - LDS mission:
unknown - Alleged:
1 victim,
Criminal case(s): Convicted, Pleaded guilty, - AKA Charles W. Tyhurst Jr, Chuck Tyhurst
updated Sep 29, 2025 - request update | add info
LDS positions: 
Alleged:
Criminal case(s): 
Charles Tyhurst was a practicing optometrist in the Lebanon, Virginia area as of 1979. His license expired at the end of 2018.
He was called as bishop of the Bristol Ward of the Mormon church in late 1986 or early 1987. He was still serving as bishop as of October 1990. (Bristol, Virginia is a twin city of Bristol, Tennessee – it is the same city, straddling the TN/VA state line.) He was no longer bishop as of August 1992.
In 2019, Tyhurst was arrested. He was sentenced in 2020 to prison for five years for aggravated sexual battery of a minor.
Related criminal case: Washington County Circuit Court case number CR1900037700.
A former acquaintance of Tyhurst told FLOODLIT, “Charles W. Tyhurst was my childhood bishop. He always creeped me out. He was overly affectionate and gave all the young girls pet names in the ward. I caught him staring at me many times. When I was 11, I had to ‘confess’ the sexual abuse by a family member to him and it was extra traumatizing. He told me to never tell anyone else. Everything got swept under the rug.”
Tyhurst became a licensed pilot through the Federal Aviation Administration in 2012.
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Sources
- 'A sure loser',
- 'Prodigal Son' to be screened at Bristol church,
- Lebanon optometrist sentenced to 5 years for aggravated sexual battery,
- Lebanon optometrist pleads guilty to child sex crime,
- CHARLES WESLEY TYHURST - Offender #101436,
- Virginia Department of Health Professions License Lookup,
- Virginia Department of Health Professions License Lookup,
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1. 'A sure loser'
[letter to the newspaper by Tyhurst]
Mr. Tyhurst is bishop of the Bristol Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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2. 'Prodigal Son' to be screened at Bristol church
"... according to Bishop Charles W. Tyhurst, local lay leader of the LDS Church."
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3. Lebanon optometrist sentenced to 5 years for aggravated sexual battery
A Russell County, Virginia optometrist who had a practice based in Lebanon for decades has pleaded guilty to sex crimes.
According to information found in Washington County, Virginia Circuit Court, Charles Tyhurst, 73, will serve five years in prison on one count of aggravated sexual battery after a judge suspended 15 of the recommended 20-year sentence. A second count of the same charge was dropped during the proceedings.
The report said that the incident took place in the early 1990s and involved a child under the age of 13. Information from the Virginia Board of Optometry says Tyhurst’s license expired in 2018.
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4. Lebanon optometrist pleads guilty to child sex crime
LEBANON, Va. — A Lebanon optometrist who admitted to a child sex crime will go to prison for five years.
Seventy-three-year-old Charles Tyhurst has pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual battery. The charge was brought in Washington County, Virginia.
Prosecutors say it involved an incident in 1993 and involved a child under the age of 13.
Originally, two charges were filed, but one was dropped.
Tyhurst pleaded guilty to the second.
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5. CHARLES WESLEY TYHURST - Offender #101436
Registration Number:
101436
Status:
Incarcerated
Age:
76
Tier:
3
Lifetime Registration:
Yes
Reg. Renewed:
Initial Registration Start Date:
11/05/2019
Sex:
MALE
Race:
WHITE
Hair:
GRAY OR PARTIALLY GRAY
Height:
5' 0"
Weight:
197 lbs
Eyes:
HAZEL -
6. Virginia Department of Health Professions License Lookup
License Information
License Number 0601000826
Occupation Optometrist-Non TPA
Name Charles W Tyhurst
Address Lebanon, VA 24266
Initial License Date 08/03/1977
Expire Date 12/31/2005
License Status Expired
Additional Public Information* No -
7. Virginia Department of Health Professions License Lookup
License Number 0618000138
Occupation Optometrist-TPA Certified
Name Charles W Tyhurst
Address Lebanon, VA 24266
Initial License Date 07/29/1991
Expire Date 12/31/2018
License Status Expired
Additional Public Information* No
Documents
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Criminal case documents
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Other Mormon sex abuse cases
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- Wendell Thompson (1963 – ) was a former LDS bishop and stake presidency member in Clinton, Mississippi; convicted in 2011 of felony child sexual abuse (gratification of lust); some of the abuse took place while Thompson was in an LDS stake presidency role
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- Clayton Hildreth (1952 – ) was a Mormon stake president in Butte, Montana; from Dillon, Montana; arrested in June 2004 by Boise, Idaho police for soliciting sex from a person he thought was a 14-year-old girl online; was stake president at the time of his arrest; pleaded guilty in October to a charge of interstate travel with intent to have sex with a minor; sentenced in 2005 to three years and five months in prison
- View report »
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- Lon Kennard (1941 – 2019) was a former Mormon bishop in Heber City, Utah; in 2011, pleaded guilty to three felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child; sentenced in 2011 to three consecutive terms of five years to life in the Utah State Prison
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