Dean Andrus

Sources

1. Bishop Accused Of Witness Intimidation Charge Grows Out Of Rexburg Physician’s Sex Abuse Case
   view source details | 13 Sep 1996 | Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington)

Sources excerpts

• Bishop Accused Of Witness Intimidation Charge Grows Out Of Rexburg Physician’s Sex Abuse Case
  Source type: News article
  Publisher: Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington)
  Date published/accessed: 13 Sep 1996
  archive 1 | archive 2

  Associated Press

  Bonneville County officials are investigating an allegation that a Mormon Church official tried to discourage a girl from testifying that then-Rexburg physician LaVar Withers sexually abused her.

  No charge has been filed, and Ucon-area Bishop Dean Andrus denies the allegation. For two years, Andrus has served as the lay leader of the Milo Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints near Idaho Falls.

  “I absolutely am not” guilty, Andrus said. “This is not accurate.”

  Andrus declined to answer further questions as he prepared to meet with Bonneville County sheriff’s investigators Wednesday. Detective Glen Fuhriman interviewed the girl and her family Tuesday.

  Deputies may submit their report to the Bonneville County prosecutor’s office this week.

  “I just have to wait and see what the report shows,” Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Jon Shindurling said.

  But Special Prosecutor Dan Hawkley, whose handling of the case led to Withers’ agreement to plead guilty to a single battery charge, said Andrus may have violated Idaho’s anti-witness intimidation law. That statute carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

  “It was serious misconduct,” Hawkley said.

  Withers began serving a 30-day jail sentence on Thursday at the Madison County Jail.

  After more than a year of denying allegations that he sexually abused female patients, Withers pleaded guilty on Monday to a single count of battery. The charge referred to numerous victims in Bingham and Madison counties from 1965 through 1995, when Withers retired under pressure from the state Board of Medicine.

  Hawkley had charged him with a series of felony counts before agreeing to accept a guilty plea to the misdemeanor.

  Under the terms of Magistrate Keith Walker’s ruling, Withers will serve 30 days in jail and two months on probation and pay $15,500 in fines in lieu of a suspended fourmonth jail term.

  Throughout the case, some victims have alleged that Mormon Church officials ignored their pleas for help or actually discouraged them from pursuing charges against Withers.

  Hawkley said he learned of the allegation against Andrus last week. His client said the church official expressed concern that her testimony would cause harm to Withers. The session occurred Aug. 11 at Andrus’ church offices, he said.

  Hawkley informed Madison County Prosecutor Sid Brown, who in turn alerted Bonneville County officials who had jurisdiction in the case.

  “To the extent there is a church problem here, it is local,” Hawkley said. Leaders at Mormon Church headquarters in Salt Lake City offered to meet with the family to remedy any problems caused by the bishop, he said.

  “They have been 100-percent supportive of this investigation,” Hawkley said.

  Meanwhile, five of the women who accused Withers of molesting them filed a class-action lawsuit against him. The suit, filed Wednesday in Blackfoot, seeks at least $25,000 for each woman named in the suit to cover “mental anguish and emotional harm.” Hawkley, a Boise lawyer and former assistant U.S. attorney and state legislator, is representing the women.

  More than 117 women have told the Rape Response and Crime Victim Center of Idaho Falls that Withers abused them.