Help FLOODLIT.org raise awareness
about sexual abuse in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormon).
Our growing public database (over 4,000 case reports) and relentless research have helped to hold perpetrators and enablers accountable.
Your donations make it possible for us to shine a bright light of support for abuse survivors everywhere.
Donate »9 Mormon sexual abuse cases
-
Eric Patrick Avant
-
- was a Mormon church member and cub scout leader in Norfolk, Virginia; convicted on 14 counts of aggravated sexual battery; sentenced in 1988 to 26 years in prison for molesting eight boys; had as many as 41 alleged victims.
- Criminal: Convicted, Prison,
- Victims: 10 or more victims, Multiple victims,
- Crime: 1970s, in Virginia,
- Convicted: 1900 to 1979,
-
LDS church payment: $2,000,000
- Case report »
-
-
Thomas Evans-Southall
-
Frank Paul Ferrara
-
- was a Mormon church member and doctor in Northern Virginia; convicted in 1997 of four counts of forcible sodomy.
- Criminal: Convicted, Unknown result,
- Victims: Unknown number of victims,
- Crime: 1990s, in Virginia,
- Convicted: 1990s,
- Case report »
-
-
Christopher Lee Fleming
-
Alleged coverup- was an LDS church member in Chesapeake, Virginia; found guilty of 10 counts of various sexual abuse to a minor; currently incarcerated in Virginia.
- Criminal: Convicted,
- Victims: 1 victim,
- Crime scenes: LDS church building,
- Case report »
-
-
Shawn Noble Frost
-
- was an LDS church member in Virginia; arrested in 2022 and charged with child sexual abuse; in 2023, sued in $10.3 million lawsuit alleging child sexual abuse of three more victims; he was the victim's home teacher / ministering brother.
- Criminal: Ongoing,
- Civil: Settlement,
- Victims: 2 victims, Multiple victims,
- Crime scenes: Recreational trip/outing,
- Case report »
-
-
John Earl Goodrich
-
- Alleged coverup
- was a former Mormon bishop and dentist in Idaho; accused of child sexual abuse and of having nonconsensual sex with a woman he admitting to drugging; given a withheld judgement; in December 2023, the AP reported that the Mormon church had offered $300,000 to a victim and her mother to not use her story to sue the church, and to keep the NDA secret; arrested in Virginia in March 2024.
- Criminal: Convicted, Criminal charges dropped, Withheld judgment,
- Civil: civil-lds-payment-victim-out-court, Settlement,
- Victims: Multiple victims,
- Crime scenes: Perpetrator's home, Victim's home,
- Crime: 2000s, in Idaho, Virginia,
- Convicted: 2010s, 2017,
- Case report »
-
-
Calvin James McGee
-
- Alleged coverup
- was an LDS missionary in Virginia in 2022; accused of soliciting sexually explicit pictures and video from a person he believed to be an 11-year-old girl, and inviting her to meet in person; arrested in Boise, Idaho in July 2023 and accused of rape of a minor; pleaded guilty to two charges related to child sexual abuse; sentenced in May 2024 to three to 25 years in prison.
- Criminal: Admitted guilt, Convicted, Ongoing, Pleaded guilty, Prison,
- Victims: 2 victims, Multiple victims,
- Crime: 2020s, in Idaho, Virginia,
- Convicted: 2020s, 2024,
- Case report »
-
-
James Walter Sirles
-
- was a Mormon church member in Chesterfield, Virginia; convicted of possession of child pornography and production and distribution of child pornography.
- Criminal: Convicted, Pleaded guilty, Unknown result,
- Victims: Multiple victims, Unknown number of victims,
- Crime: 2000s, in Virginia,
- Convicted: 2000s, 2005,
- Case report »
-
-
Charles Wesley Tyhurst
-
- was a former LDS bishop and optometrist in southwest Virginia; accused of sexual abuse; convicted; 2020: sentenced in Virginia to prison for five years for aggravated sexual battery of a minor; 2024: registered sex offender; lives in Richmond, Virginia.
- Criminal: Convicted, Pleaded guilty,
- Civil: No civil case,
- Victims: 1 victim,
- Case report »
-
Add information
If you would like to add or correct any information, please fill out the form below.
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