Was Scout leader,
Unknown result,
updated Jan 18, 2025 - request update
John Doe (pseudonym) was a Mormon church member and Cub/Boy Scout leader in the United States. In the 2020s, a sexual abuse survivor identified Doe as part of a “proof of claim” submission in the massive Boy Scouts of America (BSA) bankruptcy case. The claim was one of 2,854 that directly identified the Mormon church, according to an expert analysis of the LDS church’s potential total liability for the sexual abuse allegations. The alleged abuse took place prior to the bankruptcy filing in February 2020, and may have dated back as early as the 1940s. FLOODLIT is seeking court documents and more details about these cases.
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Other Mormon sex abuse cases
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- Samuel Gardner (1932 – 1968) was an LDS bishop in the Oklahoma City First Ward in the early 1960s; accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy in the bishop's office at a Mormon chapel in about 1961; died in 1968
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- John Doe was an LDS church member in California; in 2024, accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse; the suit was one of 91 or more coordinated civil suits filed in California in 2024 against the Mormon church
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- Waylon White (1982 – ) was a Mormon church member in Payson, Arizona; was a licensed practiced nurse (PN); charged in 2025 with 18 felonies related to child sexual abuse
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- James Bayless (1946 – ) was a Mormon church member in Gilbert, Arizona; pleaded guilty in 2015 to two counts of molestation of a child; as of 2024, is a registered sex offender living in Mesa, Arizona
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- Errol Pilling (1942 – ) was a Mormon bishop and licensed psychologist in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; went on an LDS mission to England in the early 1960s; pleaded guilty in 1988 and in 1994 to charges of sexual misconduct; in September 1994, his registration as a chartered psychologist with the Psychologists Association of Alberta was cancelled; in 1994, was excommunicated; as of February 2024, lives in Twin Falls, Idaho
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- James Victor (1960 – ) was a Mormon missionary in Canada in the 1980s; allegedly sexually abused a 12-year-old boy while on his mission; an LDS stake president and a mission president (David Sorensen) allegedly covered up abuse allegations; Sorensen later became an LDS general authority
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- James Robinson was an LDS bishop in Utah; accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl; charges were dropped
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- Ronald Phelps was an LDS bishop and stake executive secretary, and attorney, in Oklahoma; arrested for indecent exposure before becoming an LDS bishop; accused of child sexual abuse; Mormon church leaders allegedly covered up the abuse
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- Brandon Manning (1973 – ) was an LDS church member in Utah and Georgia; convicted three times of sex crimes: Scotland in the 1990s, Utah in 2001, Georgia in 2020; assigned to be a young men's president in a Georgia LDS branch in 2017; arrested in 2019 and charged with eight felony counts of child sexual exploitation; convicted; as of November 2023, lives in Fort Valley, Georgia as a registered sex offender
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- John Doe was an LDS church member in California; in 2024, accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse; the suit was one of 91 or more coordinated civil suits filed in California in 2024 against the Mormon church
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- Dustin Hall was a Mormon church member and Boy Scout leader in Washington; accused of sexually abusing boys in the Shelton Ward near Olympia; a lawsuit filed against the Mormon church in 2009 claimed church leaders knew Hall posed a risk to boys but failed to prevent him from working with them
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- Craig Mathias (1960 – ) was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Granada Hills, California; was in the Northridge ward until 1983; convicted in 1987 of sexually molesting multiple boy scouts; sentenced to six years in prison
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- John Doe was an LDS church member in California; in 2024, accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse; the suit was one of 91 or more coordinated civil suits filed in California in 2024 against the Mormon church
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- Luis Gonzales was a Mormon bishop in Sacramento, California; charged with 20 counts of child molestation, battery, rape, bigamy, stalking, and fraud; in 2002, was found guilty of bigamy, spousal abuse (battery) and child molestation
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- David Herget (1943 – 2005) was a Mormon church member in Washington; convicted of child rape and child molestation in 1993; spent time in jail and was labeled a level-1 sex offender (least likely to re-offend); arrested in 2004 or 2005 and charged with child sex abuse; detectives identified at least seven victims; one child estimated that Herget abused him 1,400 times; in 2005, died by suicide in jail while awaiting trial
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- Franklyn Curtis (1903 – 1995) was a Mormon church member in Pennsylvania and Oregon; excommunicated in 1983 in Pennsylvania for sex abuse; rebaptized in 1984; molested five boys in Oregon; local LDS bishop knew but didn't report to police; convicted in 1995 in Oregon of sexual abuse; died in 1995
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- Trevor Milton (1982 – ) was a Mormon church member and former technology billionaire (Nikola) in Utah; accused in a 2020 lawsuit of sexual assault of two minors
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- Keith Knutson (1968 – ) was a Mormon church member in Seattle, Washington; pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse charges in 1995; a Mormon bishop allegedly failed to report abuse allegations to police
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- Juan Flores Atenco (1955 – ) was a Mormon branch president in West Valley City, Utah for five years, including in the early 2000s; accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl in his office and another room at an LDS church building; convicted in 2012 of misdemeanor forcible sexual abuse and unlawful detention; sentenced to zero to one year in jail; in March 2025, charged with rape and object rape (alleged crimes in 2002)
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- Todd Summers was an LDS church member and videographer for local children's events in Costa Mesa, California; accused of child sexual abuse that allegedly took place in a Mormon chapel and other locations; a 2009 civil suit against him ended with a $100,000 settlement payment by the Mormon church to the plaintiff
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- Murray Stubbs (1965 – ) was a Mormon church member in Canberra ACT Australia; accused of grooming a child using the internet because of sexually explicit texts; was found guilty of using the internet in an offensive way
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- Gene Guinn (1932 – 2008) was an LDS church member in the Dallas Seventh Ward, Texas; in 2000, found guilty by a jury of indecency with a child and sentenced to 68 years in prison; the victim was 10 years old at the time of the crime; Mormon officials allegedly knew about the abuse but failed to report to police
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- Alberto Reyes was a Mormon bishop in Argentina who sexually abused a child; allegedly sexually abused the victim for at least nine years; convicted in 2004
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- Robert Stevenson was an LDS church member in Las Vegas, Nevada; accused of sexual abuse
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- George Lee (1943 – 2010) was a Mormon general authority in Utah; member of the First Quorum of the Seventy from 1975 to 1989; in 1994, pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse of a child, a third-degree felony; registered sex offender; died in 2010
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- John Doe was an LDS church member in California; in 2024, accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse; the suit was one of 91 or more coordinated civil suits filed in California in 2024 against the Mormon church
- View report »
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- Christopher Warnock (1950 – ) was a Mormon church member in Waukesha County, Wisconsin; pleaded guilty to two counts of 1st Degree Sexual Assault of Child and one 2nd Degree Sex Assault-Intoxicated Victim
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- Edwin Dyer (1935 – 1986) was a Mormon church member and scoutmaster in central Oregon; accused of sexual abuse; allegedly molested as many as 15 boys over a 28-year period; shot and killed in 1986 by one of his victims; the Mormon church settled out of court for $200,000 with one victim
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"Until we use names, until people understand that this happened to Johnny next door, it will keep on happening."— Judith Powell, mother of abuse survivor Keith Powell-
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- Michael Bolingbroke (1942 – ) was a Mormon bishop and stake seventy president in Granada Hills, Los Angeles, California; accused of child sexual abuse in a 2022 lawsuit; died in 2024
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- Spencer Dixon (1964 – ) was a Mormon bishop in Salt Lake City, Utah; accused in 2002 of touching a 13-year-old girl inappropriately inside the LDS chapel of the Monument Park 7th Ward; acquitted in a jury trial
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- Robert Berchtold (1936 – 2005) was a Mormon church member in Idaho; sexually abused a child; in 1986, was found guilty of rape of a child and spent one year in jail
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- Maurice Harker (1969 – ) was an LDS church member and therapist in Utah; accused of psychologically and physically harming sexual abuse victims who came to him as patients; charged in September 2023 with felony aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult and kidnapping
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- Kendall Traxler (1969 – 2015) was an LDS church member in Gallman and Hazelhurst, Mississippi; died in 2015; a victim told FLOODLIT that Traxler sexually abused them when they were a child; the abuse allegedly took place during Sunday branch meetings; the branch president and stake president allegedly knew about the abuse but failed to report it to law enforcement
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- Kim Nelson was a Mormon church member in St. George, Utah; pleaded guilty to charges of child sexual abuse and was sentenced to prison; LDS leaders allegedly knew about the abuse and failed to report to police
- View report »
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- John Doe was an LDS church member in California; in 2024, accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse; the suit was one of 91 or more coordinated civil suits filed in California in 2024 against the Mormon church
- View report »
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- Carlos Rodrigues was an LDS church member in Dallas, Texas in the 1980s; convicted of sexual abuse
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- Paydan Bussey (1998 – ) was a Mormon church member in Washington and Utah; convicted of child sexual abuse charges while a minor in Washington; removed from sex offender registries in Washington and Utah; allegedly molested a child in 2019 while on a trip to Spain paid for by the Mormon church; charged in Washington and Utah in 2024 with child sexual abuse felonies; named in a 2025 lawsuit against the Mormon church
- View report »
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- John Doe was a Mormon missionary in Ireland; accused of sexual abuse
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- Eddie Padilla was a Mormon bishop in Taos, New Mexico; accused of child sexual abuse; convicted twice
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- Glendon Templeton was a Mormon bishop, Sunday school teacher and scout leader in Arizona; was bishop of the Maryvale Ward in West Phoenix from 2014 to 2019; excommunicated in 2019; also was a volleyball coach for high school-aged girls; accused numerous times and arrested, but never prosecuted for alleged sex crimes; sued in 1997 for alleged sexual abuse; allegedly sexually assaulted multiple teenage girls
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- Dennis Empey (1957 – ) was a Mormon church member in Driggs, Idaho and scout leader in Provo, Utah; accused of sexually abusing many children between 1981 and 1990; a stake president and four Mormon bishops allegedly failed to report abuse for years; convicted in 1991 in Utah of child molestation; sentenced to one year in jail and three years probation; charged in 2025 in Idaho with sex crimes
- View report »
"This man has molested so many children that it involved four Bishops from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."— Joe Empey's neighbor, pre-sentencing letter to Utah County judge George Ballif, Sept. 13, 1991-
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- Darrell Howe was an LDS church member in Washington; accused of sexual abuse in a civil lawsuit; the minor abuse victim and his mother filed suit against the LDS church and its officers deemed responsible; upon appeal, the judgment of the court again ruled against the plaintiff
- View report »
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- John Doe was an LDS church member in California; in 2024, accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse; the suit was one of 91 or more coordinated civil suits filed in California in 2024 against the Mormon church
- View report »
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- Timothy Hallows (1958 – ) was a Mormon bishop in Kaysville, Utah when he perpetrated sex crimes; sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM); released in January 2023; as of February 2024, lives in Pleasant View, Utah
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- Thomas Evans-Southall was an LDS bishop in Charlottesville, Virginia; originally from England; accused of sexual abuse; convicted in 2018 and sentenced to two consecutive terms of two years in prison
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- Robert Stillwell (1964 – ) was a Mormon church member and boy scout leader in Salt Lake City, Utah; accused of sexual abuse in 1987; convicted in 1993 and 1998 in separate cases of child sexual abuse; a Mormon bishop reportedly became aware of the abuse, but did not take any church disciplinary action or report to police
- View report »
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- Norman Barber (1947 – ) was a Mormon church member and dentist in Layton, Utah; was a scout leader; pleaded guilty in 1988 to sexually abusing two girls who were his dental patients; the sexual abuse occurred in his dental office and included drugging one or both girls with nitrous oxide
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- Bruce Van Horn was a Mormon bishopric counselor in Cerritos, California; accused in a 2025 lawsuit against the Mormon church of sexually abusing a child as part of a sex trafficking ring, and of covering up the abuse; the plaintiff said she was abused over 200 times at the Cerritos LDS stake center from 1979 to 1983
- View report »
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- John Doe was an LDS church member in California; in 2024, accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse; the suit was one of 91 or more coordinated civil suits filed in California in 2024 against the Mormon church
- View report »
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- G N was a Mormon church member; accused of sexual abuse
- View report »
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Criminal case documents
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