- Victims: 2 victims, Multiple victims,
LDS positions: Bishop, Stake president, - Criminal case: Criminal charges dropped,
- Civil case: No civil case,
Rhett Hintze Case Summary
Jan. 31, 2023 – Pennsylvania State Police statement (PDF)
Related case report: Shawn Cory Gooden
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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.
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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.
DonateSources
- Harrisburg lobbyist, LDS church leader charged with not reporting child rape allegations
- Charges dropped against Pa. church leader accused of not reporting sex abuse
Sources excerpts
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Harrisburg lobbyist, LDS church leader charged with not reporting child rape allegations
Source type: News article
Publisher: ABC 27
Date published/accessed: 31 Jan 2024
archive 1 | archive 2HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Pennsylvania State Police have charged Rhett Hintze, a lobbyist and “stake president” of seven area Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints churches, with being aware of but not reporting child sex assault allegations against a Lebanon County church leader.
The charges were filed on Wednesday and Hintze is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.
Police expect Hintze, 50, to turn himself in. He’s charged with “failure to report or refer” allegations, a third-degree felony. In Pennsylvania, third-degree felonies generally can carry prison terms of up to seven years.
According to police documents, Hintze’s church leadership role made him a “mandated reporter” under Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law, which dates to 1975 but expanded in 2014 following the Jerry Sandusky scandal to include more categories of people as mandated reporters and to increase the penalties for not reporting allegations.
Shawn Cory Gooden, who police say held leadership positions with the church’s Lebanon ward, was charged in 2022 in Virginia with sexually assaulting a minor in the Woodbridge area and 2023 in Pennsylvania with sexually assaulting a minor in Berks County. Police said the assaults happened between 1997 and 2000, and the victims were between 8 and 12 years old when the assaults occurred.
State Police also detailed one sexual assault allegation involving Gooden and a 12-year-old boy at French Creek State Park in 2000.
Police say Hintze, who was also chief operating officer of the Harrisburg-based Bravo Group (which tells abc27 News he is on leave as of late Wednesday), 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. State Police say Gooden and the victim “had disclosed the sexual assault” to Hintze, who “failed to report the abuse to authorities.”
Gooden was 47 years old when he was first arrested in 2022.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints works actively to prevent abuse. Our hearts ache for victims of abuse, and the Church is committed to addressing such incidents wherever they are found,” the church wrote in a statement provided by Hintze’s attorney. “The Church trains its leaders and supports their lawful efforts. The charges now brought by local prosecutors for failing to report the abuse are misguided, and the Church will vigorously defend him.”
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back to online sources list Charges dropped against Pa. church leader accused of not reporting sex abuse
Source type: News article
Publisher: CBS 12 News (West Palm Beach, Florida)
Date published/accessed: 9 Jun 2024
archive 1 | archive 2DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — A district attorney in Pennsylvania officially dropped all charges against a church leader who was accused of not reporting a sexual assault that occurred in 2000.
In a release from the Dauphin County District Attorney's Office on Friday, the charges were dropped against Rhett Hintze after the DA spoke with all parties involved and decided that it was not in the public's interest to move forward with the case against him.
Law enforcement authorities consulted with the family of the victims of the pertinent child abuse. The victims are now adults.
The victims and the victims’ families requested the withdrawal of the charges. In addition to consideration of the victims’ request, the DA examined the circumstances of the defendant. Rhett Hintze has no criminal history.
Hintze initially was charged for the failure to report the alleged sexual abuse of a 12-year-old by a man named Shawn Gooden, who was charged with the assault 13 years later in 2023.
Despite all charges being dropped against Hintze, the DA said the church he is affiliated with will be required to do training pertaining to the topics of sexual abuse and the reporting of it:
"The District Attorney’s Office is now communicating with officials from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to set up trainings regarding sexual abuse and reporting options and to ensure that information about reporting options is prominently displayed throughout the Stake. The District Attorney thanks the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for its commitment to ensuring that this information is distributed to its members."
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.
Visit the FLOODLIT Map