David Owens was an LDS elders quorum president in Tempe, Arizona; accused of sexual abuse; sentenced in 2018 to 20 or more years in prison for sexually assaulting three young men in his Mormon ward.

Sentenced in 2018 for 20+ years for sexually assaulting three young men in his Mormon ward.

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Sources

  1. Tempe man arrested for sex with a minor, PD investigating other potential victims, ABC 15 Arizona, January 25, 2018.

  • 1. Tempe man arrested for sex with a minor, PD investigating other potential victims

    • 20180125
    • News article
    • ABC 15 Arizona

    Officials have arrested a man accused of having sex with a minor in Tempe.

    Tempe police report that on January 10 a teenage boy under 15 years old came forward and told police that he had been sexually abused by 38-year-old David Chandler Owens.

    Police say Owens was a "trusted family friend as well as a church member" that the child was staying with in October 2017.

    While investigating this allegation, police say they received contact from another male teenager, who allegedly told them that Owens performed multiple sexual acts with him over a three-year period.

    The victim told police Owens used sex toys and restraints during their sex acts.

    A third boy also came forward accusing Owens of committing sex acts with him from 2013 to 2017.

    He allegedly told police that Owens bought him pink boys underwear for a Christmas present, for the boy to model for him.

    Owens is being held on a $500,000 bond for sexual conduct with a minor.

    Police say there could be as many as 18 charges in total.

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Other Mormon sex abuse cases

    • James Denos (1929 – 2017) was a former LDS bishop and junior high school teacher in Utah; previously lived and served as a Mormon bishop in 1970 in Westminster, Orange County, California; sentenced in 2002 to a minimum of 20 years in a Utah state prison for sexually abusing four minor girls living in Utah; allegedly began molesting kids as early as 1950
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      • "In public, my father was always so perfect, and he told us he was perfect. [...] He went to church every Sunday, we had family home evening and we read the Scriptures. People put him on a pedestal. But he was molesting children … right under our noses."
      — James Denos's daughter
    • David Cannata (1965 – ) was a Mormon bishop in Tucson, Arizona in 2005 when he sexually abused a child who was 5 or 6 years old; was a stake high council member sometime in the 2010s; was confronted by the victim and turned himself into the police; convicted in 2019 and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison; was excommunicated from the Mormon church because of the abuse
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