30 matching Mormon sex abuse cases

      • Larren Arnold was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Idaho; in 1984, arrested for lewd conduct with a minor under 16; convicted, received a five-year suspended sentence and three years probation; Mormon leaders allegedly covered up Arnold's abuse; the Mormon church made a $50,000 settlement payment to a victim in 2001, and a payment to another victim in 2012; died in 2017
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $50,000
      • Eric Avant was a Mormon cub scout leader in Norfolk, Virginia; convicted in 1979 of sodomizing an 11-year-old; Mormon leaders allegedly knew of his sexual attraction to young boys but did not check police records; convicted in 1988 of 14 counts of aggravated sexual battery and sentenced to 26 years in prison for molesting nine boys; had as many as 41 alleged victims; the church settled a lawsuit in 1992
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $2,000,000
      • Christian Bearnson was a Mormon church member in Los Angeles, California in the early 1990s; molested a 13-year-old girl; in 1993, the Mormon church was found liable for child sexual abuse by a jury in a civil lawsuit; the LDS church then settled with the two plaintiffs, reportedly for millions of dollars (US), and had the court records sealed
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $2,000,000
      • Christopher Church was a Mormon high priest and anesthesiologist in Arizona; had his license revoked in 2011 for a pattern of touching women's breasts while they were unconscious; 2012 civil suit was dismissed
      • John Doe was a Mormon church member in Lake Elsinore, California; arrested in 1997; pleaded guilty to committing lewd acts with a child under age 14; spent three years in state prison; in December 2022, the LDS church paid $995,000 to settle its part of a related civil lawsuit wherein a jury awarded the victim $2.28 billion
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $995,000
      • John Doe was an LDS church member and former Mormon bishop in Alabama, Alaska and Texas; in 2022 or 2023, confessed to child sexual abuse to his LDS bishop and stake president in Texas, according to a person familiar with the case; they reported him to local police in 2023; in 2024, a plaintiff filed a civil lawsuit against him; Doe and the church settled with the victim in 2025
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: Undisclosed amount
      • Edwin Dyer 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
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $200,000
      • Timur Dykes was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Portland, Oregon; accused of sexual abuse; convicted multiple times; in 1987, three plaintiffs sued the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts of America; in about 2009, the Mormon church paid $350,000 to a victim to settle its portion of a civil lawsuit
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $350,000
      • Shawn Frost was an LDS church member in Virginia; arrested in 2022 and charged with child sexual abuse; in 2023, sued in $10.3 million lawsuit alleging child sexual abuse of three more victims; he was the victim's home teacher / ministering brother
      • John Goodrich was a former Mormon bishop and dentist in Idaho; accused of child sexual abuse and of having nonconsensual sex with a woman he admitting to drugging; given a withheld judgement; in December 2023, the AP reported that the Mormon church had offered $300,000 to a victim and her mother to not use her story to sue the church, and to keep the NDA secret; arrested in Virginia in March 2024
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $300,000
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • Mark Gum was a Mormon scout leader in Oxnard, California; a 2011 lawsuit against the LDS church and the Boy Scouts of America accused him of sexually assaulting a boy scout; while the boy was living with Gum (with the consent of the boy's parents), church members visited and accepted the living arrangement, the suit said; in 2012, the Mormon church made a settlement payment for an undisclosed amount
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: Undisclosed amount
      • Brent Hansen was an LDS church member and dentist in Spanish Fork, Utah; was also mayor of Spanish Fork and president of its chamber of commerce; accused in a civil lawsuit of receiving sexual favors from a dentistry patient in return for prescriptions for narcotics; his dentistry license was suspended for 30 days; died in 2015
      • Vance Hein was an LDS church member and scoutmaster in West Bradford, Pennsylvania; was convicted in 1999 of a misdemeanor for sexually abusing one of his boy scouts; sentenced in 2000 to 15 years of probation; arrested in 2011 for possessing child pornography; sentenced in 2012 to 15 to 30 years in prison; the Mormon church settled a related lawsuit in 2014
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: Undisclosed amount
      • James Hogan was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Oregon; in 1989, was sentenced to five years in prison for child sexual abuse; released in 1994; in 2011, a victim filed a civil lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America, seeking $5.2 million; the Mormon church settled with two victims for $800,000 and $75,000
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $875,000
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • Christopher Jensen was a Mormon church member in Utah and West Virginia; sentenced to 35 to 75 years in prison for sexually abusing two children; local LDS church coverup alleged; LDS church settled civil lawsuit mid-trial in 2018 for $32 million, also spending over $27 million on legal fees; FLOODLIT.org discovered the settlement details in 2025 and made them public for the first time
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $32,000,000
      • Kevin Kirkland was a Mormon seminary teacher and school teacher in the Redlands, California area; accused of sexual abuse; pleaded guilty in 2016 to molesting four female students from May 2015 to May 2016; sentenced to two years in jail; released in June 2017
      • John Misseldine was a Mormon missionary in Nevada; charged with sexually abusing two children at an LDS chapel in the Las Vegas area; in 2005, made a plea deal to avoid prison, via an Alford plea to two counts; a lawsuit said a local Mormon leader failed to report abuse to police; in 2008, sentenced to prison after violating the plea deal; as of 2024, lives in Las Vegas, Nevada as a registered sex offender
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $782,000
      • Thomas Monson was an attorney for the LDS church's law firm, Kirton McConkie; In 1989, Monson paid a $75 fine and was placed on probation after he pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting sex from a prostitute; sued in the 1990s for sexual harassment; reached a settlement with the victim; was a Mormon bishop in Utah in 2008
      • Ralph Neeley was an LDS church member in the Beaumont, Texas area; was sentenced in January 1994 to life in prison in Texas for repeated sexual abuse of an 8-year-old girl in an LDS chapel during church meetings and in other locations; died in prison in 2020; the Mormon church reportedly paid several million US dollars in a settlement to the victim
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $3,000,000
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • 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
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $100,000
      • Peter Taylor was a Mormon church member in Washington; confessed to sexual abuse of his two underage stepdaughters; convicted; Mormon church lost a civil lawsuit and was court ordered to pay the victims $2.5 million; the church appealed and the amount was reduced to $1.2 million
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $1,200,000