5 matching Mormon sex abuse cases

  • Criminal case result: Fled or failed to appear
    • David Bennett was an LDS church member and scout leader in California and Korea; convicted in 1987 in California of child sexual abuse; moved to Korea; was assigned to be an LDS young men's president and scoutmaster; was accused of molesting several boys; disappeared in 1991; FLOODLIT is attempting to locate him
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • Frank Lefrandt was an LDS church member in Honolulu, Hawaii; served a Mormon mission to Guatemala; accused of sexual abuse; admitted in 2007 to sexually molesting a 13-year-old newspaper carrier; pleaded guilty in November 2008; disappeared while out on bail awaiting sentencing
    • Paul Nelson was an LDS church member in Arizona; accused of sexual abuse; sentenced to prison in November 2023; failed to appear at his sentencing and went missing; reportedly planned to turn himself in in March 2024 on the condition that his $100k bail be returned to his family; arrested in April 2024 in Tucson, Arizona and extradited to Gilbert, Arizona
    • Eneudo Petit was a Mormon bishop in Provo, Utah; while bishop, allegedly sexually abused a child; accused of molesting another child before becoming a bishop; allegedly avoided arrest warrant for child sexual abuse by fleeing the US to Venezuela; arrested in Texas in 2021; convicted in Utah in 2022 and sentenced to prison; as of July 2024, is in the Uintah County Jail
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • Brent Taylor was the Utah Valley Youth Symphony orchestra director and an LDS Sunday school teacher; accused in 2018 of sexually abusing multiple boys; a judge ruled in 2023 that he had exaggerated his health issues to avoid trial; pleaded guilty in June 2024; sentenced twice to prison in two separate child sex abuse cases in 2024