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Donate »13 Mormon sexual abuse cases
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Eric Patrick Avant
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- 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.
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- Criminal: Convicted, Prison,
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LDS church payment: $2,000,000
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Thomas Evans-Southall
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- was an LDS bishop in Charlottesville, Virginia; originally from England; accused of sexual abuse; convicted and sentenced to prison.
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- Criminal: Convicted,
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Frank Paul Ferrara
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- was a Mormon church member and doctor in Northern Virginia; convicted in 1997 of four counts of forcible sodomy.
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- Criminal: Convicted, Unknown result,
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Christopher Lee Fleming
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- was an LDS church member in Chesapeake, Virginia; found guilty of 10 counts of various sexual abuse to a minor; currently incarcerated in Virginia.
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- Criminal: Convicted,
- Alleged coverup
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Shawn Noble Frost
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- 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.
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- Criminal: Ongoing,
- Civil: Settlement,
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Shawn Cory Gooden
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- 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.
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- Criminal: Convicted, Ongoing, Prison, Probation,
- Civil: No civil case,
- Alleged coverup
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John Earl Goodrich
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- 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.
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- Criminal: Charges dropped, Convicted, Withheld judgment,
- Civil: Settlement,
- Alleged coverup
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LDS church payment: $300,000
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William Scott Hanson
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- was a Mormon youth leader; sentenced to prison for child sexual abuse; the Mormon church settled a civil lawsuit in which the victim accused it of failing to protect him.
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- Criminal: Convicted,
- Alleged coverup
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LDS church payment: Undisclosed amount
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Cecil Bryan Jacobson
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- was a Mormon church member and fertility doctor in Virginia; found guilty of secretly using his own sperm to artificially inseminate patients.
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- Criminal: Convicted,
- Civil: Unknown result,
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Calvin James McGee
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- 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.
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- Criminal: Admitted guilt, Convicted, Ongoing, Pleaded guilty, Prison,
- Alleged coverup
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Adam Scott Phipps
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- was an LDS church member in Manassas, Virginia; accused of taking indecent liberties with children; charged and convicted in 1993; registered sex offender.
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- Criminal: Convicted, Registered sex offender, Unknown result,
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James Walter Sirles
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- was a Mormon church member in Chesterfield, Virginia; convicted of possession of child pornography and production and distribution of child pornography.
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- Criminal: Convicted, Pleaded guilty, Unknown result,
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Charles Wesley Tyhurst
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- 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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- Criminal: Convicted, Pleaded guilty,
- Civil: No civil case,
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