16 matching Mormon sex abuse cases

      • Terry Allen was an LDS church member in California; in 1987, was found guilty of sexual abuse of a child and was sentenced to six years in prison; was assigned to multiple trusted church positions, including Sunday school president, despite the Mormon church being aware that he had raped a teenager; LDS leaders were accused of hiding his abuse from local church members; as of 2024, lives in Grapevine, Texas
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated, Rebaptized,
      • Alan Bassett was a Mormon church member and air traffic controller in Fruit Heights, Utah; accused in a 2019 civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse (dismissed without prejudice); charged in June 2024 with child sexual abuse; over 80 victims came forward; admitted to molesting many neighbor girls; tried to get his case dismissed due to an unsigned 1989 agreement with a deputy Davis County attorney
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated, Rebaptized,
      • Max Cheatham was an LDS church member in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado; accused of sexual abuse; convicted in Colorado of child sexual abuse
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated, Rebaptized,
      • Benjamin Covey was a Mormon church member in the 1840s and 1850s; in 1848, was excommunicated for having sexual intercourse with two girls "less than Twelve years of age" who were his foster daughters; was rebaptized and soon thereafter was made bishop of the Salt Lake City Twelfth Ward from 22 February 1849 until 1856
      • Church discipline: Church position after confession/conviction, Excommunicated, Rebaptized,
      • Rowan Ellsworth 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
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated, Rebaptized,
      • Carlos Escalante was an LDS branch president in San Nicolas, Argentina; sexually abused his stepdaughter for 5 years, including while branch president; the victim asked local LDS leaders for support, but allegedly received none; she was punished by the church for "refusing to forgive" and for "failing to comply with worthiness standards;" Escalante was sentenced in 2018 to 14 years in prison
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated, Rebaptized,
      • Kenneth Good was a Mormon church member in Georgia; accused of molesting 4 underage girls; pleaded guilty of child sexual abuse; sentenced in 1991 to 8 years in prison; released on parole in December 1993; as of 2023, lives in Taylorsville Utah
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated, Rebaptized,
      • David Herget 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
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated, Rebaptized,
      • Michael McClellan was an LDS church member in Las Vegas, Nevada; arrested; convicted of attempted lewdness with a minor; sentenced to prison; as of 2024, lives in Cottonwood, Arizona
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated, Rebaptized,
      • Grant Packer was an LDS church member in Idaho; served a full-time mission to Canada in 1946-48 and two senior missions to Atlanta, Georgia and San Bernardino, California; charged with child sexual abuse; pleaded guilty; sentenced to three to 10 years in prison and 10 years probation; died in 2008
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated, Rebaptized,
      • Dennis Schult was a Mormon church member and scout leader in southern California; pleaded no contest to two counts of child molestation as part of a plea agreement wherein six other molestation charges were dropped; sentenced in 1991 to eight years in prison for sexually abusing two of his scouts for several years; as of 2024, registered sex offender living in Granada Hills, California
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated, Rebaptized,