65 matching Mormon sex abuse cases

  • Crime scene: Unknown crime scene
    • Nicholas Alahverdian was an LDS church member in Orem, Utah; accused of rape; recently extradited from Scotland; has a lengthy history of criminal behavior
    • 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,
    • Noel Anderson was an LDS church primary teacher in McKinney, Texas; sentenced in 2019 in Texas to 50 years in prison for molesting children
    • Michael Antrobus was a former Mormon branch president (similar to a bishop) and bishop in Connersville, Indiana for 10 years (approximately 1974-84); convicted of child sexual abuse charges (9 counts, 6 victims) in Sacramento County, California in 2021-2022; sentenced to 8 years in San Quentin State Prison; died by suicide in prison in September 2023; allegedly had at least a dozen victims
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • 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
    • Bryan Barner was a Mormon church member in New York in the 1980s; scout leader, molested a 12-year-old boy and two 13-year-old boys; sentenced to no more than one year in prison
    • John Baysden was an LDS missionary from North Carolina who, while serving his mission in Roy, Utah (Ogden Utah mission), videotaped himself molesting two victims, ages 15 and 18; pleaded guilty to 2 counts of forcible sex abuse with minors; sentenced to 180 days in jail
    • Arthur Bishop was a Mormon boy scout leader in Utah; was excommunicated in the 1970s; later molested multiple children and killed five young boys; was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 1988
    • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
    • Andrew Bishop was a Mormon church member in Pleasant Grove, Utah (Manila Creek Stake); arrested in 2015 and admitted to sexually abusing 5 individuals in 10 years; convicted of sexual abuse of a minor in the first and second degree in February 2016; sentenced in 2016 to prison in Utah
    • Wyman Blankenship was a Mormon church member; scout leader, pleaded guilty to molesting boys
    • Charles Blome was a Mormon church member and US Army veteran in or near Houston or Beaumont, Texas; admitted to sexually molesting at least five boys; pleaded guilty to two counts of indecency with a child; sentenced to 15 years in prison; the LDS church was ordered to pay $4 million to a 13-year-old boy victim; Blome died in 2005
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • LDS church payment: $4,000,000
    • David Borg was a Mormon church member and scout leader; pleaded guilty to molesting multiple boys; sentenced to 34 years in prison
    • Dennis Bough was a Mormon church member in Washington; pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse charges
    • Curt Boyack was an LDS church member in New Mexico; accused of sexual abuse; allegedly said he would turn himself in to police; died by suicide
    • Allen Brinkerhoff was a Mormon bishop and stake president and manager of an LDS stake welfare farm in Nevada; arrested in Nevada in 2007 and admitted to sexually abusing two children; was convicted and sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison for battery with intent to commit sexual assault, and 12 to 32 months in prison for sexual abuse of a child; died in 2019
    • Gary Brown was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Utah; sentenced to one year in prison for sexually abusing one of his scouts
    • Paul Bryant was an HOA president and former Mormon primary teacher in Lehi, Utah; was a branch president during an LDS mission to Argentina in the 1980s; in 2016, pleaded guilty to three first-degree felony counts of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child and was sentenced to prison; in 2023, pleaded not guilty to failure to register as sex offender; died by suicide in December 2024
    • Gerald Burgie was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Utah; charged in 1981 with third-degree felony forcible sexual abuse; convicted of attempted sexual abuse of a child
    • John Burrell was a Mormon church member; pleaded guilty of child sexual abuse
    • Sheril Burton was a Mormon church member and BYU professor in Utah; found guilty of sexual abuse of two underage girls; sentenced to up to 15 years in prison; as of January 2024, lives in Pleasant Grove, Utah
    • Samuel Butler was a Mormon church member; sentenced in 2020 to 15 years to life in prison for child sexual abuse
    • Cory Campbell was a Mormon church member in Ogden, Utah; accused of sexually abusing five underage girls; sentenced in 2010 to prison
    • Brett Candelaria was a Mormon church member in Colorado; pleaded guilty to charges of child sexual abuse on multiple occasions; sentenced in 2008 to two consecutive terms of 10 years to life in prison; later sentenced to 36 more years to life
    • Albert Carlson was a Mormon church member in Utah, New Mexico and Texas; arrested in the 1980s in Utah on a molestation charge after allegedly molesting an underage boy who he met through the church; the case was dropped to a lewdness charge which did not require him to register as a sex offender; in 2025, sentenced in Texas to life in prison for child sexual abuse
    • Jon Carpenter was an LDS church member; sentenced to prison for child sexual abuse; the day after sentencing, injured himself to avoid serving longer in prison
    • Candon Dahle was a Mormon church member in Blackfoot, Idaho and Provo, Utah; in February 2025, arrested in Utah, extradited to Idaho; at the time of arrest, was a starting pitcher for the BYU baseball team; charged in Fremont County with felony lewd conduct with a child under 16 (pleaded guilty in May 2025); charged in Bingham County for a juvenile child sex abuse case (dismissed via Fremont plea agreement)
    • Oliver Eames was an LDS church member, sixth grade teacher and Mormon Tabernacle Choir singer in Farmington, Utah; admitted to trying to fondle several children he had been hired to tutor; pleaded guilty in 1988 to two felony counts of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child; local police had documented 52 alleged child sexual abuse incidents involving him
    • Harry Fougeron was a Mormon church member in Richmond Hill, Georgia; currently in an ongoing trial, accused of sexually abusing teenage girls
    • Richard Fowler was a Mormon church member in Sandpoint, Idaho; pleaded guilty to two felony counts of Children-Lewd Conduct with Child Under 16 in 20
    • Adam Friel was a Mormon church member in Provo, Utah; accused of sexual abuse
    • Thomas Gibbons was an LDS church member in Tennessee and Layton, Utah; worked as a police officer; pleaded guilty to two felony charges of forcible sex abuse; sentenced in 2000 in Utah to prison
    • Martin Gillen was a Mormon church member in Nevada and Colorado; in 2002, Gillen was convicted of sexual assault of a 6-year-old and sentenced to eight years in prison in Colorado; in 2016, arrested and charged again with child sex abuse, but case was dismissed
    • Ronald Hall was an LDS church member and former Mormon Tabernacle Choir member in Utah and Washington; accused of sexually molesting three underage girls in 1997 or 1998; acquitted in 2000; accused of sexual abuse of a fourth victim, an underage girl, in approximately 2003; convicted in 2005 of third-degree felony attempted child sexual abuse; died in 2023
    • Melvin Hansen was a Mormon church member, school music teacher and former Tabernacle Choir member in Utah; convicted in 2021 in Utah of first degree felony attempted aggravated child sexual abuse; also accused of sexual abuse in Arizona
    • Russell Harbin was a Mormon church member in Polson, Montana; convicted of sexual intercourse without consent with an 11-year-old child; the alleged abuse lasted from 2022 to 2024; he allegedly was assigned to be a Primary teacher sometime after the abuse began; sentenced in 2025 to 40 years in prison; the judge suspended 20 years of the 40-year term
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • James Haskell was a former Mormon bishop and practicing attorney in Vacaville, California; charged with 14 felonies and three misdemeanors for allegedly sexually abusing four children; was an LDS stake high council member when charged; pleaded not guilty; in June 2024, found not guilty in a jury trial of 16 of 17 counts; jurors deadlocked on one count of felony injury upon a child
    • Greg Orton was a Mormon church member in La Grande, Oregon; accused and arrested for alleged sexual abuse with a minor who was under 14 at the time of the alleged abuse
    • 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,
    • Jeffery Parks was a Mormon church member in Tennessee; in 2003, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, two counts of incest, and two counts of statutory rape; sentenced to prison
    • James Raborn was an LDS church member in Iowa; convicted of four misdemeanor counts related to child sexual abuse and exploitation; 2023: registered sex offender living in Boone, Iowa
    • Shane Ross was an LDS church member and public school teacher in Salem, Oregon; accused of child sexual abuse of a former student; convicted in 2018 and sentenced to prison
    • Wayne Sells was a Mormon church member in South Carolina; accused of sexual abuse
    • Stewart Singley was an LDS church member in Ohio; convicted in 1975 of child molestation that occurred in 1974; in 1997, convicted and sentenced to one year in jail or prison; as of 2024, is a registered sex offender; lives in East Waterford, Pennsylvania
    • Philander Smartt was a Mormon mission president in Puerto Rico; accused of sexually manipulating some of his sister missionaries; in 2014, the LDS church sent him home and called his behavior "immoral and sinful," but no criminal charges or civil lawsuits resulted
    • Terry Stidd Terry Alan Stidd was an LDS church member in Kearns, Utah; in 1998, pleaded guilty to rape in the first degree and sodomy in the first degree and was sentenced to 10 years in prison; as of 2024, is out on parole and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah
    • Larry Strain was a Mormon church member in Missouri; accused of sexual abuse
    • Mark Swanson was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Idaho; convicted in the 1980s of child sexual abuse; in 1988, Darwin Matthews, a Mormon bishop in Shelley, Idaho, recommended Swanson for a scout leader position, reportedly because he felt Swanson was "completely rehabilitated"
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • Keaton Tanner was a Mormon church member and school teacher in Pleasant Grove, Utah; accused and arrested for alleged rape of a child; authorities requested no bail because they feared he might flee to Germany, where he was once a Mormon missionary
    • James Tolman was an LDS church member in Orem, Utah and Cheyenne, Wyoming; convicted of UNLAWFUL SEXUAL INTERCOURSE in 1994 in Utah and SEXUAL ABUSE OF A MINOR IN THE SECOND DEGREE in Wyoming
    • Jay Toombs was an LDS church member and private investigator in Benson, Cache Valley, Utah; accused of sexual abuse; allegations of his abuse were reportedly known to three LDS bishops and stake president Jerry Toombs (his older brother), who never reported it to police; convicted in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • Curtis Ware was a Mormon church member and football coach for Grantsville High School in Utah; convicted in June 2018 of one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old and two counts of dealing in materials harmful to a minor, all class A misdemeanors; also pleaded guilty to class B misdemeanor tampering with a witness in a separate case
    • Mark Webb was an LDS church member in Murray, Utah; pleaded guilty in 2014 to two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor
    • Orson Wright was a Mormon mission president in Sydney, Australia from 1978 to 1980; accused of grooming some of the sister missionaries in his care to be his polygamous wives; removed early from his mission assignment; LDS church leaders in Salt Lake City, Utah allegedly covered up the reasons for Wright's removal
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • Timothy Wright was a Mormon church member in Santa Clara, California; convicted in 1994 of one or more felonies related to child sexual abuse; a 1994 civil lawsuit against the Mormon church said he molested a boy between 1989 and 1992, when the boy was 14 to 17 years old (actions for which he was convicted); the suit was dismissed in 1995 for failure to appear by the plaintiff's attorneys
    • Scott Zaugg was allegedly a Mormon church member in Utah; was raised in the Mormon church; convicted in 2000 of second-degree felony sex abuse of a child; was sentenced to one to 15 years in prison; as of 2025, was a registered sex offender living in Roy, Utah