Joseph Walker was a former Mormon bishop, stake presidency counselor and LDS Public Affairs employee in Utah; charged in 2025 with three third-degree felony counts related to child sexual exploitation; allegedly "engaged in several sexually explicit conversations within which he sought or attempted to seduce, lure, and entice [a 14-year-old girl] into engaging in multiple sexual acts," per a police affidavit.

Joseph Walker (Joe Walker) was a former Mormon bishop and LDS Public Affairs employee in Washington, Utah.

In 2025, Walker was charged with one third-degree felony count of enticing a minor and two third-degree felony counts of distributing material harmful to a minor.

According to a police affidavit obtained by Floodlit, Walker allegedly “engaged in several sexually explicit conversations within which he sought or attempted to seduce, lure, and entice Minor into engaging in multiple sexual acts.”

The “Minor” was an undercover persona of a 14-year-old female created by a detective with the Layton Police Department in Layton, Utah.

“Minor made it abundantly clear that her age was 14. Despite this, WALKER, believing that Minor was 14-years-old continued his actions to engage in sexual activities,” the affidavit stated.

Walker was a Mormon bishop in the early 1990s in the Bountiful area of Utah. Floodlit is trying to determine the name of the ward of which Walker was bishop.

In 1993, Walker was second counselor in the Bountiful Utah Orchard stake presidency, according to the Mormon church’s 1993 directory of officials (Floodlit owns a copy, thanks to your donations).

For three years, Walker worked for the LDS church’s Public Affairs department.

Walker wrote numerous articles for the church-owned Deseret News, including a weekly syndicated column called ValueSpeak, in which he discussed traditional values.

At the time of the charges against Walker in 2025, he was a communications director for the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT).

Walker is listed as a co-author of a biography of deceased Mormon apostle Russell Ballard, Anxiously Engaged (2021).

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Sources

  1. Former journalist facing charges for alleged enticement, Deseret News, August 22, 2025.

  • 1. Former journalist facing charges for alleged enticement

    • 22 Aug 2025
    • News article
    • Deseret News

    Man engaged online with Layton, Utah, detective posing as a 14-year-old girl

    A former Deseret News journalist who also wrote an independent syndicated column about traditional values was charged Friday for allegedly “enticing” a detective posing online as a 14-year-old girl “to engage in sexual activity.”

    The Davis County Attorney’s Office filed third-degree felony charges Friday against Joseph Brent Walker, 70, in 2nd District Court. Walker faces one count of enticing a minor and two counts of distributing material harmful to a minor.

    Prosecutors also filed a request asking a judge to issue a no-bail arrest warrant for Walker. Court documents show him residing in Washington, Utah.

    Walker worked in various reporting and editing roles at the Deseret News in three separate stints at the company. He left the Deseret News in 2013.

    From 1990 to at least 2015, Walker wrote ValueSpeak, a weekly syndicated column that examined contemporary issues through the lens of traditional values. The column appeared in at least 30 newspapers and a number of online publications.

    Walker is now a communications director for the Utah Department of Transportation, he confirmed to the Deseret News.

    “I’m not aware of these charges,” Walker said when contacted Friday. “So I don’t have anything to say.”

    Walker allegedly sent sexually explicit photos to a Layton detective posing as a 14-year-old girl and attempted to entice the apparent teen to engage in sexual activity, according to a declaration by Layton Police Det. Travis Rapp.

    Prosecutors filed Rapp’s statement with their application for an arrest warrant.

    “Defendant presents a substantial danger to the community, specifically to children,” Rapp alleged in the document.

    Rapp created the fictitious 14-year-old as part of an online investigation. The detective posed as the girl in an online dating forum, according to his declaration.

    A person using the screen name William Wallace engaged in multiple sexually explicit online conversations with the detective posing as the girl between July 18 and 25, according to Rapp.

    The detective alleged that he obtained search warrants and determined through IP addresses and further investigation that Walker was the person using the William Wallace screen name.

    Posing as the girl, Rapp allegedly made it “abundantly clear” in the online conversations that the girl was 14. Walker allegedly sent two sexually explicit photos to the fictitious girl, Rapp said. The request for an arrest warrant asks a judge to issue a no-bail warrant for Walker.

    A third-degree felony is punishable by up to five years in prison.

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Criminal case documents

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