Crime Decade: 1960s

26 LDS sex abuse cases found

1960s

Crime decade: 1960s

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- Michael Adamson (1945 – ) was a Mormon church caretaker and organist in York, England; allegedly abused at least four children as young as seven years old between 1966 and 1982; sentenced to prison in England in 2008 for child sexual abuse
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- Crime: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s,
- Places lived:
- Crime country: England, United Kingdom,
- Convicted: 2008,
- LDS positions: Other leader,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted,
- Alleged failure to report
- Larren Arnold (1935 – 2017) 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 knew as early as 1964 about 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
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- Crime: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s,
- Places lived:
- Crime state: Idaho,
- LDS positions: Scout leader,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Probation,
- Civil case(s): Lawsuit v. LDS church, Settlement, Unknown result,
- Alleged failure to report
- Wyman Blankenship was a Mormon church member; scout leader, pleaded guilty to molesting boys
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- Crime: 1960s,
- Places lived:
- Crime state: California,
- LDS positions: Scout leader,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Parole, Plea deal, Pleaded guilty, Released,
- Dennis Collins was an LDS church member in Washington; pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse
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- Crime: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s,
- Places lived:
- Crime state: Washington,
- LDS positions: Scout leader,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Plea deal, Pleaded guilty,
- Clark Crookston (1949 – ) was a former Mormon bishop, dentist and college professor in Orem, Utah; accused of nearly 60 years of sex abuse of multiple children; pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated child sexual abuse; sentenced in 2022 to up to 35 years in prison
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- Crime: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s,
- Places lived:
- Crime county: UT - Utah,
- Crime state: Utah,
- Convicted: 2022,
- LDS positions: Bishop, High priest, Missionary, Stake high council,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Plea deal, Pleaded guilty, Prison,
- Alleged failure to report
- Luke Dalton (1941 – ) was a Mormon church member; admitted to sexually abusing dozens of boys over decades in Ohio, Montana and Utah; arrested in 1997 in Utah for sexually abusing his only son; convicted and sentenced to prison; served 3.5 years in prison
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- Crime: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s,
- Places lived:
- Crime state: Montana, Ohio, Utah,
- LDS positions: Scout leader,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Prison,
- 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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- Crime: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s,
- Places lived:
- Crime state: Utah,
- Convicted: 2002,
- LDS positions: Bishop, Missionary, Stake high council, Temple worker, Ward clerk,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Prison,
- Alleged failure to report
- 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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- Crime: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s,
- Places lived:
- Crime state: Oregon,
- LDS positions: Scout leader,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Jail, Probation,
- Civil case(s): Lawsuit v. LDS church, Settlement,
- Alleged failure to report
- Alfred Forrester (1936 – 2013) was a Mormon church member in California; excommunicated in the 1950s after conviction for child molestation; moved to Iowa, reoffended, incarcerated; returned to California, convicted once or twice more, then assigned to be a Mormon church scoutmaster; abused again, caught, sentenced to prison in 1979; a 2024 lawsuit against the LDS church alleged that a bishop failed to protect kids
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- Crime: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s,
- Places lived:
- Crime state: California, Iowa,
- Convicted: 1956, 1960, 1966, 1979,
- LDS positions: Scout leader,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Plea deal, Pleaded guilty, Prison, Probation, Registered sex offender, Released,
- Civil case(s): Lawsuit v. LDS church, Ongoing,
- Alleged failure to report
- 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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- Alleged crime: 1960s,
- Places lived:
- Alleged crime state: Oklahoma,
- LDS positions: Bishop, Stake high council,
- Criminal case(s): Never charged, Not convicted,
- Alleged failure to report
- William Harding (1940 – ) was a Mormon branch president, elders quorum president and ward clerk in Tasmania and Queensland, Australia; charged in or before 2023 with multiple counts of sexual assault of a minor in two states in Australia; allegedly had as many as 40 victims; in 2024, pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was sentenced to 9 months in jail in Brisbane; in 2025, faced new charges in Tasmania
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- Crime: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s,
- Places lived:
- Crime country: Australia,
- LDS positions: Branch president, Ward clerk,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Jail, Ongoing, Plea deal, Pleaded guilty,
- Alleged failure to report
- Joel Houck was an LDS church member in California; accused in the 1960s of sexual abuse; convicted of vagrancy in 1966 and served 10 days in jail; in 1967, placed in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) "perversion files"
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- Crime: 1960s,
- Places lived:
- Crime state: California,
- LDS positions: Scout leader,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Jail, Unknown result,
- Melvin Johnson (1936 – ) was a Mormon seminary teacher and Brigham Young University (BYU) religion professor; accused by multiple victims of sexually abusing them when they were children; excommunicated and rebaptized; reportedly confessed to sexual abuse, but was not criminally charged; two victims filed lawsuits against him; one named the Mormon church as a defendant; it settled out of court
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- Alleged crime: 1960s, 1970s,
- Places lived:
- Alleged crime city: UT - Provo,
- Alleged crime county: UT - Utah,
- Alleged crime state: California, Utah,
- LDS positions: BYU, Church employee, Other leader, Seminary teacher, Stake high council,
- Criminal case(s): Admitted guilt, Never charged, Not convicted,
- Civil case(s): Lawsuit v. LDS church, Settlement, Unknown result,
- Alleged failure to report
- Franklin Mathias was a Mormon church member and Boy scout leader in La Grande, Oregon; had a career as a schoolteacher; accused in 1987 of sexual abuse; sentenced in 1988 to four years in prison for molesting a child; he said that he had 242 victims over a 30-year period
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- Crime: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s,
- Places lived:
- Crime state: Oregon,
- LDS positions: High priest, Scout leader, Stake high council,
- Criminal case(s): Admitted guilt, Convicted, Prison,
- Civil case(s): Unknown result,
- F N was an LDS bishop 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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- Alleged crime: 1960s, 1970s,
- Places lived:
- Alleged crime state: California,
- LDS positions: Bishop,
- Criminal case(s): Unknown result,
- Civil case(s): Lawsuit v. LDS church, Ongoing,
- Alleged failure to report
- Grayson Redd was a Mormon church member and former sheriff's deputy in Monticello, Utah; accused in 2024 of sexual abuse; died by suicide in July 2024, days after posting bail; alleged abuse dated back to 1967
- View report »
- Alleged crime: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s,
- Places lived:
- Alleged crime state: Utah,
- LDS positions: Unknown position,
- Criminal case(s): Not convicted, Police investigation, Suicide,
- Vernon Sanford Jr was an LDS church member in San Diego, California; died in 2000; in 2024, accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse, along with his father, Vernon Sanford Sr; the suit was one of 91 or more coordinated civil suits filed in California in 2024 against the Mormon church; the alleged abuse occurred between 1961 and 1970; the Sanfords were the plaintiff's LDS home teachers
- View report »
- Alleged crime: 1960s, 1970s,
- Places lived:
- Alleged crime state: California,
- LDS positions: Unknown position,
- Criminal case(s): Never charged, Not convicted,
- Civil case(s): Lawsuit v. LDS church, Ongoing,
- Alleged failure to report
- Vernon Sanford Sr was an LDS church member in San Diego, California; died in 2000; in 2024, accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse, along with his son, Vernon Sanford Jr; the suit was one of 91 or more coordinated civil suits filed in California in 2024 against the Mormon church; the alleged abuse occurred between 1961 and 1970; the Sanfords were the plaintiff's LDS home teachers
- View report »
- Alleged crime: 1960s, 1970s,
- Places lived:
- Alleged crime state: California,
- LDS positions: Other leader,
- Criminal case(s): Never charged, Not convicted,
- Civil case(s): Lawsuit v. LDS church, Ongoing,
- Alleged failure to report
- William Schubeck was a Mormon church member in California; accused of sexual abuse
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- Alleged crime: 1960s,
- Places lived:
- Alleged crime state: California,
- LDS positions: Unknown position,
- Criminal case(s): Unknown result,
- Civil case(s): Lawsuit v. LDS church,
- Alleged failure to report
- Orin Searle (1926 – 2014) was an LDS church member in Ogden, Utah; accused of sexual abuse in 2013 but was deemed incompetent to stand trial; a victim said that Searle's predatory behavior began as early as the late 1950s, and that several family members, and multiple members of the LDS 44th Ward (Mount Ogden Stake), knew that Searle was a child molester but did nothing to stop him; died in 2014
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- Alleged crime: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s,
- Places lived:
- Alleged crime state: Utah,
- LDS positions: Bishopric counselor, Elders quorum, High priest, Other leader, Temple worker,
- Criminal case(s): Not convicted,
- Alleged failure to report
- Charles Shield (1942 – ) was an LDS ward executive secretary in England and Scotland; accused of sexual abuse; convicted; sentenced in 2017 to six years in prison
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- Crime: 1960s, 1970s,
- Places lived:
- Crime country: England, United Kingdom,
- Convicted: 2017,
- LDS positions: Ward executive secretary,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Prison,
- Alleged failure to report
- William Shubeck was a Mormon church member in San Bernardino, California; accused in 2003 of sexual abuse in a civil lawsuit against the LDS church
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- Alleged crime: 1960s,
- Places lived:
- Alleged crime state: California,
- LDS positions: Unknown position,
- Criminal case(s): Never charged, Not convicted,
- Civil case(s): Lawsuit v. LDS church, Unknown result,
- Alleged failure to report
- George Tilson (1942 – 2020) was a Mormon church member in the Salt Lake City, Utah area (including Holladay); pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse in the 1990s; alleged coverup by Mormon leaders
- View report »
- Crime: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s,
- Places lived:
- Crime state: Utah,
- LDS positions: High priest, Scout leader,
- Criminal case(s): Convicted, Plea deal, Pleaded guilty,
- Civil case(s): Lawsuit v. LDS church, Unknown result,
- Alleged failure to report
- Robert White was a Mormon missionary in South Dakota in the late 1960s; in 2008, a civil lawsuit filed against the Mormon church said he sexually abused a boy while on his mission
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- Alleged crime: 1960s,
- Places lived:
- Alleged crime state: South Dakota,
- LDS positions: Missionary,
- Criminal case(s): Never charged, Not convicted,
- Civil case(s): Lawsuit v. LDS church, Settlement, Unknown result,
- Alleged failure to report
- Emmett White was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Florida; was caught in 1966 by local police soliciting an adult sex worker (prostitute); denied any inappropriate behavior around scouts
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- Alleged crime: 1960s,
- Places lived:
- Alleged crime state: Florida,
- LDS positions: Scout leader,
- Criminal case(s): Never charged, Not convicted,
- LaVar Withers (1936 – 2005) was a Mormon and physician in Rexburg, Idaho; accused of sexually abusing at least 133 women and children as young as 13 years old over a period of 30 or more years; admitted to sexual abuse; in 1996, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery; sentenced to 30 to 60 days in jail and two years probation; the Mormon church placed him on probation and took his temple recommend; died in 2005
- View report »
- Crime: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s,
- Places lived:
- Crime city: ID - Rexburg,
- Crime state: Idaho,
- LDS positions: Bishopric counselor, Stake high council,
- Criminal case(s): Admitted guilt, Convicted, Jail, Plea deal, Pleaded guilty, Probation,
- Alleged failure to report

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