15 matching Mormon sex abuse cases

  • Crime location: Virginia
    • Eric Avant was a Mormon cub scout leader in Norfolk, Virginia; convicted in 1979 of sodomizing an 11-year-old; Mormon leaders allegedly knew of his sexual attraction to young boys but did not check police records; convicted in 1988 of 14 counts of aggravated sexual battery and sentenced to 26 years in prison for molesting nine boys; had as many as 41 alleged victims; the church settled a lawsuit in 1992
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • LDS church payment: $2,000,000
    • Thomas Evans-Southall was an LDS bishop in Charlottesville, Virginia; originally from England; accused of sexual abuse; convicted in 2018 and sentenced to two consecutive terms of two years in prison
    • Frank Ferrara was a Mormon church member and doctor in Northern Virginia; convicted in 1997 of four counts of forcible sodomy
    • Shawn 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
    • Jason Gagnon was a Mormon church member who allegedly perpetrated sex crimes in Colorado, Oregon and Virginia
    • Shawn Gooden was an LDS bishop in Lebanon, Pennsylvania from 2016-2020; arrested in 2022 and charged with sexual abuse of two children in Virginia from 1997-2000; pleaded guilty in July 2023 in Virginia to four felony counts; sentenced in November 2023 in Virginia to prison time and supervised probation on release; charged in July 2023 in Pennsylvania with more child sex abuse charges
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • John Goodrich 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
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • LDS church payment: $300,000
    • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
    • Cecil Jacobson was a Mormon church member and fertility doctor in Virginia; found guilty of secretly using his own sperm to artificially inseminate patients
    • Jan Manley was a Mormon church member in Virginia; arrested in 2018 on suspicion of various offenses related to child sexual abuse; allegedly abused multiple children
    • Calvin McGee 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
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • Adam Phipps was an LDS church member in Manassas, Virginia; accused of taking indecent liberties with children; charged and convicted in 1993; registered sex offender
    • James Sirles was a Mormon church member in Chesterfield, Virginia; convicted of possession of child pornography and production and distribution of child pornography
    • Charles 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

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