5 matching Mormon sex abuse cases

  • Criminal case result: Community service
    • Michael Clay was an LDS church member and BYU professor in Provo, Utah; charged with sexually abusing three students; entered a plea bargain in May 2023 in which he agreed to plead no contest to three class A misdemeanor charges of sexual battery, complete 24 months of probation, do 50 hours of community service, and take a sexual boundaries course; sentenced in June 2023 according to the plea deal
    • 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
    • Alleged coverup
    • Robert Nelson was an LDS bishop in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; accused of sexual abuse of a "mentally handicapped" woman; pleaded guilty in 1989; placed on two years probation, ordered to do 150 hours of community service, and ordered to take a conducted tour of a local jail
    • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
    • Carl Sepos was an LDS temple worker and high priest in Payson, Utah; pleaded guilty in 2015 to sexually abusing an adult woman with Down syndrome and autism at a hotel swimming pool; he blamed his sex crime in part on an addiction to pornography; sentenced to 150 days in jail, 36 months of probation and 100 hours of community service
    • Heidi Tasso was an LDS church member and school teacher/counselor in St. George, Utah; charged in 2016 with child sexual abuse; pleaded guilty in June 2018 to one third-degree felony count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor; sentenced in August 2018 to 120 days in jail, 36 months probation and 200 hours of community service

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.