25 matching Mormon sex abuse cases

      • Jose Arias was a Mormon church missionary in Palm Desert, California; accused of sexual abuse; civil suit filed against LDS church and Arias; judge awarded judgment by default for the plaintiff (victim) against Arias in 2017 in the amount of approximately $4.2 million; the LDS church was not found liable
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • John Baysden was an LDS missionary from North Carolina who, while serving his mission in Roy, Utah (Ogden Utah mission), videotaped himself molesting two victims, ages 15 and 18; pleaded guilty to 2 counts of forcible sex abuse with minors; sentenced to 180 days in jail
      • Robert Campbell was an LDS church member in Nebraska; accused of sexual abuse
      • Niles Carr was a Mormon missionary in Ireland in the late 1980s, originally from California; convicted of child sexual abuse charges; Mormon leaders allegedly assigned Carr to work with Boy Scouts after knowing he was sent home from his mission due to child sex abuse allegations
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • Curtis Crittenden was a Mormon church member and LDS full-time missionary in Guatemala in 1993-1995; admitted to sexually abusing boys while on his mission and later when he was the head of 4-H in Tooele County; sentenced to prison in 2007 in Utah for child sexual abuse of several boys in his care as their 4-H leader
      • Abraham Cruz was a Mormon missionary in Saratoga Springs, Utah; arrested in May 2024 on suspicion of sexual assault; charged with three first-degree felony counts (two of forcible sodomy, one of rape); charges were dismissed without prejudice in June 2024
      • Michael Driggs was a Mormon missionary in Brazil in the early 1970s; allegedly sent to a different mission in the United States after being found having inappropriate relationships with young boys; convicted of child sexual abuse in 1985 in Arizona; convicted again of child sexual abuse in 2013 in Utah; he met his victim in the Utah case at church, according to court documents
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • Francis Fuller was a Mormon bishop in Highland, Utah in 1993; also was a stake high council member in Utah; in 2018 or 2019, pleaded guilty to two second degree felony counts of child sexual abuse; sentenced in 2019 in Utah to two years in jail and four years probation; registered sex offender
      • Matthias Heinrichs was an LDS missionary in England; originally from the Netherlands; accused of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred during his mission; pleaded guilty; jailed for two years
      • Hayden Hunter was a Mormon missionary in California; he was from Pleasant Grove, Utah; arrested in 2020 for distribution of child sexual abuse material (child pornography) while on his mission; convicted of possession of CSAM in 2021
      • Jason Larsen was an LDS missionary from Idaho in Bakersfield, California; accused in 1997 of sexual abuse of an 8-year-old girl at a school; as of 2024, lives in Meridian, Idaho
      • Robert Longman was a Mormon missionary in Corpus Christi, Texas; molested a three-year old in a bedroom while two other missionaries talked with the mother; pleaded no contest to charges filed in May 1989 of indecency with a child; sentenced to eight years probation, a $1,000 fine, and required to pay $400 in court costs
      • 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
      • John Misseldine was a Mormon missionary in Nevada; charged with sexually abusing two children at an LDS chapel in the Las Vegas area; in 2005, made a plea deal to avoid prison, via an Alford plea to two counts; a lawsuit said a local Mormon leader failed to report abuse to police; in 2008, sentenced to prison after violating the plea deal; as of 2024, lives in Las Vegas, Nevada as a registered sex offender
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
      • LDS church payment: $782,000
      • Matthew Nash was a former Mormon missionary from Utah who served a mission in North Carolina in 1999; accused in 2001 of sexually molesting 11 girls while on his mission; pleaded guilty to charges of child sexual abuse
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • James Penrod was a Mormon church missionary in Pennsylvania in 1997; originally from Utah; sent home to Utah from his mission and arrested in July 1997 and charged with child sexual abuse; sentenced to prison for sexual abuse
      • Kyle Saucier was a Mormon missionary in Utah; charged in 2007 with aggravated sexual abuse of a child, but the charges were dropped after prosecutors said they could not proceed due to "witness problems"
      • Derrick Starley was an LDS church member and full-time missionary in Chubbuck, Idaho; originally from Utah; perpetrated a sex crime while on his Mormon mission in October 2012; convicted in 2013 of felony injury to a child and sentenced to 10 days in jail
      • James Victor was a Mormon missionary in Canada in the 1980s; allegedly sexually abused a 12-year-old boy while on his mission; an LDS stake president and a mission president (David Sorensen) allegedly covered up abuse allegations; Sorensen later became an LDS general authority
      • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse