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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- 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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- John Doe was a Mormon temple worker in Los Angeles, California; accused in a 2025 lawsuit against the LDS church of sexually assaulting a man in 1984 while performing a private anointing ritual in the Los Angeles LDS temple
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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
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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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- UNKNOWN Ross was an LDS high priest and stake seventy 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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- Karey Zimmerman (1962 – ) was a Mormon church member in Utah and Nevada; in 2025, was accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse that allegedly took place in Nevada and Utah; the Mormon church was also named as a defendant; the lawsuit said a Utah bishop failed to report abuse allegations to police
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- Sidney Spencer was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Idaho; convicted in 1984 of child sexual abuse; a Mormon bishop approved his application to be a scout leader despite his prior sex crime conviction
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- Ángel Jaramillo was an LDS church member in Jujuy, Argentina; arrested on child pornography and abuse charges (which includes distribution, tenancy, and production of material)
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- David Williams (1948 – ) was an LDS church member in West Valley, Utah; in 2019, found guilty of sexually abusing seven little girls for 14 years; the abuse was reported to parents and bishop and they allegedly did not report to police
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- Matthew Doyle (1973 – ) was an LDS bishop in Copperas Cove, Texas (2nd Ward) in the 2000s; was a high school basketball coach; convicted in 2011 of sexual assault
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- Douglas Stoddard (1949 – ) was an LDS bishop in Hurst, Texas; convicted in 1992 of a felony child sexual abuse charge of indecency with a child by contact; sentenced to 8 years of probation; a lifetime registered sex offender in Texas; named publicly in August 2023 by a victim who said Stoddard molested him and three other boys in his Mormon ward while serving as bishop
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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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- Rachel Brock was a Mormon church member in Arizona; pleaded guilty to sexually abusing the same boy that her mother, Susan Brock, was convicted of molesting
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- Rowan Ellsworth (1948 – ) was an LDS church member and schoolteacher in Arizona; allegedly molested a 14-year-old girl at an LDS girls camp in mid-1990; the abuse was reported to a bishop Burgess, who allegedly failed to report to police, but instead encouraged the victim to forgive; sentenced to prison in 1999 for two counts of child sexual abuse; released in 2007
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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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- Mark Webster was a branch president in New Mexico; accused of rape in a civil lawsuit
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- Brian Peterson (1964 – ) was an LDS church member and scout leader in Orem, Utah; accused in 1988 of child sexual abuse; convicted and sentenced to prison in 1990
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"I've had little boys all over the state of Utah in conjunction with the Boy Scout program. Give me an 11-year-old boy for a week, and I'll make him a homosexual for life."— Brian Peterson, as quoted by a neighbor in 1990-
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- Paul Newman (1957 – ) was a former Mormon bishop in Utah; charged in 2020 with child sexual abuse; convicted of a sex crime
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- George Barnett was a Mormon ward clerk 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
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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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- Maynard McFarland (1959 – ) was an LDS church member in California and Minnesota; sentenced in 2005 to 32 years in prison for sexually abusing his daughter for many years; released from prison in 2020; as of 2024, lives in Chula Vista, California as a registered sex offender
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- Michael Coleman (1960 – ) was an LDS bishop and former sound recording engineer in Mesa, Arizona (Lehi 2nd Ward); arrested in 2014 for sexual solicitation of a minor online; the alleged crime took place while he was bishop
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- Robert Tubbs (1952 – ) was an LDS scout leader in Slaterville, Weber County, Utah; admitted he told a Mormon bishop in the early 1970s he had molested multiple boys; Tubbs said the bishop kept the abuse secret; nearly 20 years passed and Tubbs molested others; in the 1990s, Tubbs pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse charges; sentenced to six years to life in prison; paroled in 2000; violated parole; released in 2008
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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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- David Chadwick (1966 – ) was an LDS church member in Eagle Mountain, Utah; convicted in 2019 of sex abuse of a child
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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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- Jim UNKNOWN was a Mormon church member and Melchizedek priesthood holder in Lancaster, California; a 2024 civil lawsuit said he took part with a Mormon bishop and another Melchizedek priesthood holder in sexually assaulting an underage boy inside an LDS church building on a weekly basis from 2001 to 2003, starting when the victim was 15 years old
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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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- David Blain (1970 – 2015) was an LDS church member in Washington; accused of sexual abuse
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- Mitchell Young (1960 – ) was an LDS missionary in Canada; in 1980, was sent home after allegedly molesting children; convicted in Arizona (1985) and Utah (1988) of child sexual abuse; in 1993, sentenced in Utah to 15 years in prison for molesting a child for five years; a 2002 lawsuit against the LDS church accused Mormon leaders of providing a safe harbor for him; as of 2024, lives in Ogden, Utah; registered sex offender
- View report »
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- Todd Edwards (1964 – ) was a Mormon bishop in Menifee, Riverside County, California; in 2013, sentenced to three years in prison for sexual abuse of one teenage girl in 2006 and another in 2012; was bishop at the time of the 2012 abuse; in 2024, two victims sued the LDS church in separate lawsuits; one said a stake president and LDS law firm Kirton McConkie hindered police
- View report »
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- 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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- Keith Bergstresser (1975 – ) was an LDS church member in Oregon and Idaho; convicted in 2002 in Oregon of contributing to sexual delinquency of a minor; made a registered sex offender; in 2019, was assigned a position in an elders quorum presidency in Idaho
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- John Doe was an LDS church member in Cambridge, Massachusetts; accused of sexual abuse
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- Kenneth Jenks was an LDS church member in California (Milpitas Ward); was a ward executive secretary and ward librarian; charged with sexual abuse; convicted; served 14 years in prison for sexual abuse of a minor under duress; three victims sued the LDS church, claiming it knew about Jenks's abuse but allowed him to work with children
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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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- Dylan Whiting (1988 – ) was an LDS bishop in Nampa, Idaho; was removed from his position in 2021 after child sexual abuse allegations surfaced; was charged with four sex crimes; pleaded guilty to one felony count; sentenced in 2022 to 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
- View report »
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- David Bromley was an LDS church member in Illinois; accused of sexual abuse
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- Geoffrey Powell (1947 – ) was an LDS bishop in Western Australia; accused of sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl in his ward; the alleged abuse took place while he was a bishop; the victim twice complained to the LDS church, but said she was not believed and was chastised, and it was suggested she should move away if she felt uncomfortable; in 2019, he was sentenced to 12 months in jail
- View report »
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- Anastasia Dawson (1993 – ) was a Mormon church member in Missouri; arrested in 2023 and charged with several counts relating to sexual abuse of a minor
- View report »
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- Richard Sampson (1945 – ) was a Mormon bishop, stake high council member and doctor in Provo, Utah; was director of medical affairs for the LDS Missionary Training Center; allegedly sexually abused at least seven children; convicted and sentenced in 2014 to one to 15 years in prison for child sexual abuse; as of 2024, was out on parole living in Holladay, Utah
- 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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- 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
- View report »
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- Alan Dunn (1941 – ) was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Venice, California (Los Angeles); accused in 1978 of child sexual abuse; confessed to the police
- View report »
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- Shawn Gooden (1974 – ) was an LDS bishop in Lebanon, Pennsylvania from 2016-2020; arrested in 2022 and charged with sexual abuse of two children in Virginia from 1997-2000; pleaded guilty in July 2023 in Virginia to four felony counts; sentenced in November 2023 in Virginia to prison time and supervised probation on release; charged in July 2023 in Pennsylvania with more child sex abuse charges
- 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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- B P was a Mormon church member; accused of sexual abuse
- View report »
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- Anthon Ellsworth (1982 – ) was an LDS bishopric counselor and returned missionary in Arizona; in 2021, pleaded guilty to three felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and was sentenced to seven years in prison
- View report »
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- David Gomez (1946 – ) was a former LDS bishop and department of corrections administrator in or near West Valley City, Utah; arrested in 2004 and charged with 125 counts of sexual abuse; charges were dropped in 2005 due to issues related to the statutes of limitations
- View report »
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Criminal case documents
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