40 matching Mormon sex abuse cases

  • Criminal case result: Released
    • 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
    • John Baca was an LDS church member in California; found guilty of LEWD OR LASCIVIOUS ACTS WITH A CHILD UNDER 14 YEARS OF AGE
    • Thomas Black was an LDS church member and BYU greenhouse manager in Provo, Utah; accused of sexual abuse; sentenced to prison in Utah in 2003 for rape
    • Wyman Blankenship was a Mormon church member; scout leader, pleaded guilty to molesting boys
    • Susan Brock was an LDS church member in Arizona; was sentenced in April 2011 to 13 years in prison for engaging in a three-year-long sexual relationship with a boy, beginning when he was 14 years old; was released in December 2021
    • Jonathan Carver was a Mormon church member and returned missionary in Utah; accused of sexual abuse of a 17-year-old girl at a counseling center where he worked; pleaded guilty and sentenced in 2009 to prison; as of 2023, lives in Clearfield, Utah
    • 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
    • James Duffin was an LDS church member in California; accused of child sexual abuse; convicted in 2006; incarcerated 2006 to 2011; allegedly groomed female students ages 7-10 with attention and candy and then forcing sexual contact in his classroom after school
    • 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
    • Matthew Faerber was an LDS church member and high school choir director in Murray, Utah; pleaded guilty in 1990 or 1991 to two counts of attempted sexual abuse of a child; sentenced in February 1991 to six months in jail (two of those months under house arrest) followed by three years of supervised release
    • Thomas Forrest was an LDS church member in Mississippi; accused of sexual abuse; convicted
    • Thomas Gibby was an LDS church member and dentist in Salt Lake County, Utah; sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy; pleaded guilty to two felony counts: one second-degree felony charge of sex abuse of a child, and one third-degree charge of attempted sex abuse of a child
    • 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
    • Timothy Hallows was a Mormon bishop in Utah when he perpetrated sex crimes; sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM); released in January 2023; as of February 2024, lives in Pleasant View, Utah
    • Craig Harward was a Mormon ward executive secretary and former elementary "teacher of the year" in Santa Clara County, California; accused of sexual abuse of at least 10 children; pleaded guilty to charges related to sexual abuse of four children over a six-year period; sentenced to 14 years in prison; in 2024, a lawsuit said the LDS church failed to report abuse; as of 2024, lives in St. George, Utah
    • Jeffrey Head was an LDS bishop in Utah; committed sex crimes while serving as a Mormon bishop; in 2019, a jury found him guilty of attempted forcible sexual abuse, two counts of lewdness and sexual battery; sentenced to four months in jail and four years of probation
    • 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
    • Erik Hughes was a Mormon bishop in Mapleton, Utah and a Mormon church senior product manager when he sexually abused two underage children in his LDS ward dozens of times; was sentenced to prison in 2017; released in 2023; as of 2024, registered sex offender living in Utah
    • Hayden Hunter was a Mormon missionary in California; he was from Pleasant Grove, Utah; arrested in 2020 for distribution of child sexual abuse material (child pornography) while on his mission; convicted of possession of CSAM in 2021
    • Ronald Jenkins was a Mormon scout leader, bishopric counselor and stake high council member in Idaho; worked as a high school teacher; accused of sexual abuse; convicted in 1996 of 10 counts of lewd conduct with a minor; sentenced to 17 years in prison; registered sex offender
    • Allen Johnson was an LDS church member in Utah; drove from Utah to Idaho to meet up with a person he believed was a 15-year-old girl for sex; sentenced in 2015 to eight years in prison; as of March 2024, is a registered sex offender living in Provo, Utah
    • Les Johnson was a Mormon church member in northern Utah; found guilty of child sexual abuse; was granted parole in 1984 in Utah after serving 7 months of a 0-5 year prison sentence; as of 2023, lives in Bountiful, Utah
    • 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
    • Keith Knutson was a Mormon church member in Seattle, Washington; pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse charges in 1995; a Mormon bishop allegedly failed to report abuse allegations to police
    • Robert Larsen was an LDS church member in Salt Lake City, Utah; convicted of LEWDNESS INVOLVING A CHILD in 1993, and SEX ABUSE CHILD in 1998, as well as POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY in 2009
    • 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
    • Maynard McFarland was an LDS church member in California and Minnesota; sentenced in 2005 to 32 years in prison for sexually abusing his daughter for many years; released from prison in 2020; as of 2024, lives in Chula Vista, California as a registered sex offender
    • Aaron Montoya was a Mormon children's Primary teacher and law enforcement officer in Utah; found guilty in 2005 of sexually abusing children during LDS church meetings and at his home; later pleaded guilty in another case; in all, at least nine victims came forward; sentenced to prison in 2005; as of March 2025, is out of prison on parole and lives in Woods Cross, Utah as a registered sex offender
    • Steven Murdock was a Mormon stake high council member and former LDS bishop in Holladay, Salt Lake County, Utah; allegedly sexually harassed multiple women in his ward while he was their bishop (he was bishop from 2013 to 2017); in 2019, was caught taking photos of a young woman in a dressing room in Tennessee; pleaded guilty in November 2019; sentenced in 2019 to one year probation, 48 hours community service
    • David Novak was an LDS Social Services counselor in Utah who worked for 12 years with child sexual abuse victims; convicted in 1999 of sexually abusing a girl; released from jail after serving about 40 days
    • Jeff Ranstrom was an LDS church member, elders quorum president and high school basketball coach in Idaho; accused in 2019 of sexually abusing a student; pleaded guilty to a felony charge of child sexual abuse; sentenced in 2020 to 4 to 15 years in prison; as of December 2023, was out on parole living in Eagle, Idaho as a registered sex offender
    • Chance Ray was a Mormon church member and scout leader in the Mesa, Arizona area; convicted of child sexual abuse and sentenced to prison in Arizona; spent approximately 14 years in prison; released in July 2020
    • Keith Salmon was an LDS church member in Tennessee; found guilty of distributing CSAM
    • Richard Sampson was a Mormon bishop, stake high council member and doctor in Provo, Utah; was director of medical affairs for the LDS Missionary Training Center; allegedly sexually abused at least seven children; convicted and sentenced in 2014 to one to 15 years in prison for child sexual abuse; as of 2024, was out on parole living in Holladay, Utah
    • Timothy Shoemaker was a Mormon church member in Newnan, Georgia; accused of sexual abuse; convicted; as of 2024, lives in Newnan, Georgia as a registered sex offender
    • 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
    • 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
    • Thomas Thompson was an LDS church member in Oregon, California and Arkansas; convicted of sex crimes in Oregon in about 2002; as of 2024, was a registered sex offender living in Yellville, Arkansas
    • Robert Tubbs was an LDS scout leader in Slaterville, Weber County, Utah; admitted he told a Mormon bishop in the early 1970s he had molested multiple boys; Tubbs said the bishop kept the abuse secret; nearly 20 years passed and Tubbs molested others; in the 1990s, Tubbs pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse charges; sentenced to six years to life in prison; paroled in 2000; violated parole; released in 2008
    • Thomas Waitman was an LDS church member in Cupertino, California; convicted of felony child sexual abuse in 1995 in California; as of 2023, registered sex offender living in Redmond, Washington

View the Mormon Sexual Abuse Map

International map of locations where active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints perpetrated or allegedly perpetrated sexual abuse or other sex crimes, or where LDS leaders failed or allegedly failed to help abuse survivors.

Browse the Mormon Sexual Abuse Database

FLOODLIT.org has a free public database of hundreds of reports about people who committed or allegedly committed sex crimes, including sexual abuse, while they were active Mormon church members. You can browse the entire database by LDS church position, number of victims, places where crimes took place, criminal/civil case results, and other criteria.