Rhett Hintze

Summary

Jan. 31, 2023 – Pennsylvania State Police statement (PDF)

ABC27 Source

Related case report: Shawn Cory Gooden

—

Rhett Hintze was a Mormon stake president in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Served as stake president over seven wards in the area. While Hintze was this leadership role, a man named Shawn Gooden, who also held a leadership position as bishop in the church’s Lebanon ward, confessed to sexually abusing an 8 year old and a 12 year old.  The abuse occurred between 1997 and 2000.  Gooden was charged in 2022 with sexually assaulting a minor in the Woodbridge area and 2023 in Pennsylvania with sexually assaulting a minor in Berks County. He also eventually faced sexual assault allegations involving a 12-year-old boy he allegedly abused at a state park in 2000.

Hintze was accused of having knowledge of the abuse charges against Gooden and failing to report them to police.

—

Former LDS bishop Shawn Gooden was sentenced to prison in November 2023 in Virginia for child sexual abuse.

From 2016-20, Gooden was a Mormon bishop in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, part of the Harrisburg stake. He also served for a time in the stake presidency.

Rhett Hintze was the stake president of the Harrisburg stake in January 2024, when he was accused of failing to report Gooden’s abuse to police.

In Pennsylvania, there’s a mandated reporting law. Hintze was a mandated reporter according to that law, police said.

Quoting from the ABC27 article: “Police say Hintze, who is also chief operating officer of the Harrisburg-based Bravo Group, knew about the allegations against Gooden as early as October 2020, while Gooden was a church leader and nearly two years before he was arrested.”

In June 2024, the district attorney dropped the charges against Hintze.

Add information