74 matching Mormon sex abuse cases

  • LDS position: Bishop
  • Criminal case result: Convicted
    • Michael Antrobus was a former Mormon branch president (similar to a bishop) and bishop in Connersville, Indiana for 10 years (approximately 1974-84); convicted of child sexual abuse charges (9 counts, 6 victims) in Sacramento County, California in 2021-2022; sentenced to 8 years in San Quentin State Prison; died by suicide in prison in September 2023; allegedly had at least a dozen victims
    • Arlo Atkin was a former LDS bishop in or near Chandler, Maricopa County, Arizona; accused of raping and impregnating a 14-year-old girl in his ward while he was her bishop; pleaded guilty, spent 132 days in jail
    • Gordon Bodily was a Mormon bishop and physical education teacher in Hyrum, Cache Valley, Utah; accused in 2000 of luring a 17-year-old North Carolina girl to Utah for sex while serving as an LDS bishop; sentenced in 2001 to 21 months in federal prison
    • Donnie Boring was a former Mormon bishop and stake high council member in California / Arizona; pleaded guilty in 2017 to a felony charge of sexual abuse; died in December 2017
    • Allen Brinkerhoff was a Mormon bishop and stake president and manager of an LDS stake welfare farm in Nevada; arrested in Nevada in 2007 and admitted to sexually abusing two children; was convicted and sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison for battery with intent to commit sexual assault, and 12 to 32 months in prison for sexual abuse of a child; died in 2019
    • Ronald Brockner was a Mormon bishop and stake president in Louisiana; moved to Idaho; convicted in Idaho in 2020 of sexually exploiting a minor; sentenced to 5 to 10 years in prison
    • Michael Bronson was a former Mormon bishop in Utah; sentenced to prison in 2017 for first-degree felony attempted aggravated child sexual abuse
    • Paul Burdick was an LDS bishop and drivers education teacher in Oregon; arrested in 2019 and charged with child sexual abuse; pleaded guilty to third-degree sex abuse involving underage female students in his job as a drivers ed teacher
    • David Cannata was a Mormon bishop in Tucson, Arizona in 2005 when he sexually abused a child who was 5 or 6 years old; was a stake high council member sometime in the 2010s; was confronted by the victim and turned himself into the police; convicted in 2019 and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison; was excommunicated from the Mormon church because of the abuse
    • James Carnegie was a Mormon bishop in Silverdale, Washington in the mid-1980s (Silverdale 3rd Ward, Silverdale Washington Stake); convicted in 2009 and sentenced to jail for child molestation
    • Raymond Casillas was a Mormon bishop and middle school teacher in San Antonio, Texas; arrested in 2014 and charged with felony aggravated sexual assault of a child; via a plea agreement, pleaded no contest to indecent contact with a child and agreed to a fine of $1,500; was sentenced in 2016 to 8 years in prison; as of March 2024, lives in San Antonio, Texas as a registered sex offender
    • Benjamin Covey was a Mormon church member in the 1840s and 1850s; in 1848, was excommunicated for having sexual intercourse with two girls "less than Twelve years of age" who were his foster daughters; was rebaptized and soon thereafter was made bishop of the Salt Lake City Twelfth Ward from 22 February 1849 until 1856
    • Clark Crookston was a former Mormon bishop, dentist and college professor in Orem, Utah; accused of nearly 60 years of sex abuse of multiple children; pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated child sexual abuse; sentenced in 2022 to up to 35 years in prison
    • Alan Croshaw was a Mormon bishop in Utah in the 1990s; admitted to having a lifelong sexual addiction with a preference for prepubescent girls; downloaded and distributed child pornography; in 2015, sentenced to 30 days in jail for felony voyeurism and misdemeanor lewdness; violated probation by downloading porn
    • Scott Darrington was a former LDS bishop and assistant school principal in Fallon, Nevada; convicted of possession of child pornography, spent a year in prison
    • James Denos was a former LDS bishop and junior high school teacher in Utah; previously lived and served as a Mormon bishop in California; sentenced in 2002 to a minimum of 20 years in a Utah state prison for sexually abusing four minor girls living in Utah; allegedly began molesting kids as early as 1950
    • Larry Deutsch was a Mormon bishop in Missouri; arrested in 2020 and charged with possession of child pornography (child sexual abuse material, or CSAM) and accused of luring an underage teenager from Arizona to Missouri; pleaded guilty; sentenced in 2021 to 12 years in federal prison plus a lifetime of supervised release; in 2024, the victim filed a civil lawsuit against the LDS church
    • Gregory Dew was a former Mormon bishop, chiropractor and gymnastics teacher in Ohio; sexually abused multiple children; convicted and sentenced to prison in 2008; as of November 2022, serving prison time in Ohio for sexually abusing teenage girls
    • Matthew Doyle was an LDS bishop in Copperas Cove, Texas (2nd Ward) in the 2000s; was a high school basketball coach; convicted in 2011 of sexual assault
    • Jeremy Dumas was a Mormon bishop and boy scout leader in Indiana; pleaded guilty to charges related to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in 2024; sentenced in September 2024 to 10 years in federal prison
    • Todd Edwards was a Mormon bishop in Menifee, Riverside County, California; in 2013, sentenced to three years in prison for sexual abuse of one teenage girl in 2006 and another in 2012; was bishop at the time of the 2012 abuse; in 2024, two victims sued the LDS church in separate lawsuits; one said a stake president and LDS law firm Kirton McConkie hindered police
    • 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
    • Leeroy Fry was a former Mormon bishop in Farmington, Utah; in 1982-83, was an LDS bishop in the Hunter 1st Ward of the Hunter Central Stake in Magna, Utah; in 2012, pleaded guilty to two charges of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a 1st degree felony
    • 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
    • Rex Furness was a former Idaho state senator and Mormon bishop in Idaho; in 1996, pleaded guilty to sexual battery for fondling an underage girl; was sentenced to 60 days in jail; given a withheld judgment: if he did not violate the terms of his probation, the felony conviction would be kept from his record
    • Keith Gillins was a former mayor, LDS bishop and high school teacher in Fillmore, Utah; arrested on charges of having sex with a 17-year-old girl; convicted in 2009 of first degree felony attempted rape, first degree felony attempted sodomy and second degree felony forcible sexual abuse; sentenced in 2009 to three sentences of three years to life in prison
    • Luis Gonzales was a Mormon bishop in Sacramento, California; charged with 20 counts of child molestation, battery, rape, bigamy, stalking, and fraud; in 2002, was found guilty of bigamy, spousal abuse (battery) and child molestation
    • 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
    • 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
    • Jay Grant was a Mormon bishop of the Adams Ward in Los Angeles, California; charged in 1981, at age 79, with five counts of forcible sexual abuse; sexually assaulted three young girls; convicted of all five counts; died in 1988 in Orem, Utah; ran "Grandpa Grant's Memory Club," a neighborhood study group for up to 175 LDS children; Grant sometimes had "students" spend the night at his apartment
    • Stanley Green was a former Mormon bishop in Athens, Texas (in or before 1998 to 1999 or later); accused of sexual abuse; convicted; died in 2009
    • Douglas Hall was an LDS bishop and retired Utah Highway Patrol sergeant in Monticello, Utah; pleaded guilty in 2001 to two third degree felony counts of attempted forcible sexual abuse; pleaded guilty in 2002 to one second degree felony count of sex abuse of a child
    • Albert Halladay was a former LDS bishop in Sandy, Utah; accused of sexual abuse in 1988; pleaded guilty in 1989 to one second degree felony charge of sex abuse of a child; convicted
    • Timothy Hallows was a Mormon bishop in Utah when he perpetrated sex crimes; sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM); released in January 2023; as of February 2024, lives in Pleasant View, Utah
    • William Harding was a Mormon branch president, elders quorum president and ward clerk in Tasmania and Queensland, Australia; charged in or before 2023 with multiple counts of sexual assault of a minor in two states in Australia; allegedly had as many as 40 victims; in 2024, pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was sentenced to 9 months in jail in Brisbane; in 2025, faced new charges in Tasmania
    • Marvin Harker was an LDS bishop in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada in 2016; reportedly confessed to his mission president in 1987 to sexually abusing multiple children; also reportedly confessed to his bishop; both leaders told him not to report to police, according to records in a 2016 criminal case; convicted in 2019 (alleged abuse 1986-93); sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison; registered sex offender
    • James Hayes was an LDS bishop in the Timmins - North Bay area, Ontario, Canada; convicted of sexual exploitation in November 2001; molested an underage girl in his ward while serving as her bishop
    • Jeffrey Head was an LDS bishop in Utah; committed sex crimes while serving as a Mormon bishop; in 2019, a jury found him guilty of attempted forcible sexual abuse, two counts of lewdness and sexual battery; sentenced to four months in jail and four years of probation
    • Clayton Hildreth was a Mormon stake president in Butte, Montana; from Dillon, Montana; arrested in June 2004 by Boise, Idaho police for soliciting sex from a person he thought was a 14-year-old girl online; was stake president at the time of his arrest; pleaded guilty in October to a charge of interstate travel with intent to have sex with a minor; sentenced in 2005 to three years and five months in prison
    • Erik Hughes was a Mormon bishop in Mapleton, Utah and a Mormon church senior product manager when he sexually abused two underage children in his LDS ward dozens of times; was sentenced to prison in 2017; released in 2023; as of 2024, registered sex offender living in Utah
    • Floyd Jennings was a former Mormon bishop and school bus driver in Utah; arrested in February 2017 for soliciting sex from two girls he thought were 13 years old; convicted in 2019
    • Carl Johnson was a former Mormon bishop and former mayor of West Bountiful, Utah; arrested in 2022 and charged with sexually abusing several children between 1983 and 1997; pleaded guilty in 2023 to four felony counts of child sexual abuse; sentenced in 2023 to three consecutive terms of nine years to life each for first-degree felonies, plus one term of one to 15 years on a second-degree felony
    • Lon Kennard was a former Mormon bishop in Utah; in 2011, pleaded guilty to three felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child; sentenced in 2011 to three consecutive terms of five years to life in the Utah State Prison
    • Martin MacNeill was a former Mormon bishop in Utah; convicted of sexual abuse in 2014
    • Timothy McCleve was a former Mormon bishop in Harrisville, Utah when he was charged with sexually abusing three children; some of the abuse took place while he was bishop; sentenced in 2008 to up to 30 years in prison for child sexual abuse; in 2024, charged in Utah with threatening a witness in a parole violation investigation
    • Chester Meek was a Mormon bishop in Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada from 1990 to 1995; while bishop, he allegedly sexually sexual assaulted multiple female church members; at least one alleged incident of abuse occurred in the bishop's office inside an LDS church
    • Thomas Monson was an attorney for the LDS church's law firm, Kirton McConkie; In 1989, Monson paid a $75 fine and was placed on probation after he pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting sex from a prostitute; sued in the 1990s for sexual harassment; reached a settlement with the victim; was a Mormon bishop in Utah in 2008
    • Shawn Mortensen was a former Mormon bishop and stake presidency member in Albuquerque, New Mexico; in February 2021, admitted to police that he had sexually abused an 11-year-old girl in January 2021; convicted of child sexual abuse; sentenced in 2022 to prison in New Mexico
    • David Moss was an LDS bishop (2015-19) and police officer in Utah; arrested in 2019 for soliciting an undercover cop for sex; pleaded guilty in 2019 to a 3rd degree felony charge of exploiting a prostitute and a misdemeanor charge of patronizing a prostitute; sentenced to prison, but both terms were suspended
    • Steven Murdock was a Mormon stake high council member and former LDS bishop in Holladay, Salt Lake County, Utah; allegedly sexually harassed multiple women in his ward while he was their bishop (he was bishop from 2013 to 2017); in 2019, was caught taking photos of a young woman in a dressing room in Tennessee; pleaded guilty in November 2019; sentenced in 2019 to one year probation, 48 hours community service
    • Joseph Neipp was a former LDS bishop in San Jose, California; in 2021, pleaded no contest to four molestation counts and was given an 18-year prison sentence, with credit for the three years he spent in county jail prior to his sentencing; father of convicted Mormon child sexual abuser Samuel Neipp
    • Robert Nelson was an LDS bishop in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; accused of sexual abuse of a "mentally handicapped" woman; pleaded guilty in 1989; placed on two years probation, ordered to do 150 hours of community service, and ordered to take a conducted tour of a local jail
    • Paul Newman was a former Mormon bishop in Utah; charged in 2020 with child sexual abuse; convicted of a sex crime
    • DeRon Olsen was a former Mormon bishop and stake presidency counselor in Spokane, Washington; in 2024, pleaded guilty to one felony count of child molestation and one felony count of child rape; sentenced to prison
    • Scott Owen was a Mormon bishop (twice), stake presidency counselor and therapist in Provo, Utah; called himself the "Porn King;" accused by 7 former patients of sexually abusing them during sessions, and by a cousin (alleged sex abuse in 1980s); an LDS bishop, a stake president (his business partner) and Utah DOPL all allegedly failed to report to police; arrested in Nov. 2023; sentenced in 2025 to prison
    • Eddie Padilla was a Mormon bishop in Taos, New Mexico; accused of child sexual abuse; convicted twice
    • Eneudo Petit was a Mormon bishop in Provo, Utah; while bishop, allegedly sexually abused a child; accused of molesting another child before becoming a bishop; allegedly avoided arrest warrant for child sexual abuse by fleeing the US to Venezuela; arrested in Texas in 2021; convicted in Utah in 2022 and sentenced to prison; as of July 2024, is in the Uintah County Jail
    • Ronald Phelps was an LDS bishop and stake executive secretary, and attorney, in Oklahoma; arrested for indecent exposure before becoming an LDS bishop; accused of child sexual abuse; Mormon church leaders allegedly covered up the abuse
    • Scott Phister was a Mormon bishop and stake president in Wyoming; later moved to Utah and worked as a massage therapist; pleaded no contest in 2022 to two class A misdemeanor charges of sexual battery for touching a female massage client in a sexual manner
    • Errol Pilling was a Mormon bishop and licensed psychologist in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; went on an LDS mission to England in the early 1960s; pleaded guilty in 1988 and in 1994 to charges of sexual misconduct; in September 1994, his registration as a chartered psychologist with the Psychologists Association of Alberta was cancelled; in 1994, was excommunicated; as of February 2024, lives in Twin Falls, Idaho
    • Byron Poelman was a bishop and stake president in Utah and partner in a law firm that represented the LDS church; arrested in 1994 for soliciting a prostitute; pleaded guilty to a class B misdemeanor charge of patronizing a prostitute
    • Craig Pope was a Mormon bishop or former Mormon bishop in St. Louis, Missouri; convicted in or prior to 2013 of possession of child pornography (child sexual abuse material); charge info: Child Porn - 2nd Subsequent Offense Or Poss > 20 Pictures/1 Film/video
    • Geoffrey Powell was an LDS bishop in Western Australia; accused of sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl in his ward; the alleged abuse took place while he was a bishop; the victim twice complained to the LDS church, but said she was not believed and was chastised, and it was suggested she should move away if she felt uncomfortable; in 2019, he was sentenced to 12 months in jail
    • Keith Price was a Mormon bishop in Pleasant Grove, Utah; convicted in 2018 of class A misdemeanor voyeurism; secretly recorded underage girls; the crime occurred while he was serving as bishop
    • Alberto Reyes was a Mormon bishop in Argentina who sexually abused a child; allegedly sexually abused the victim for at least nine years; convicted in 2004
    • Richard Sampson was a Mormon bishop, stake high council member and doctor in Provo, Utah; was director of medical affairs for the LDS Missionary Training Center; allegedly sexually abused at least seven children; convicted and sentenced in 2014 to one to 15 years in prison for child sexual abuse; as of 2024, was out on parole living in Holladay, Utah
    • Douglas Stoddard was an LDS bishop in Hurst, Texas; convicted in 1992 of a felony child sexual abuse charge of indecency with a child by contact; sentenced to 8 years of probation; a lifetime registered sex offender in Texas; named publicly in August 2023 by a victim who said Stoddard molested him and three other boys in his Mormon ward while serving as bishop
    • Gerald Tapp was a Mormon bishop in Gravesend, England; in 2008, sentenced to three and a half years in jail for distributing and possessing indecent images of children
    • Wendell Thompson was a former LDS bishop and stake presidency member in Clinton, Mississippi; convicted in 2011 of felony child sexual abuse (gratification of lust); some of the abuse took place while Thompson was in an LDS stake presidency role
    • Donald Tolman was an LDS church member and former bishop in Provo, Utah (Provo 10th Ward, starting in 1975); convicted in 2020 of six felony counts related to child sexual abuse; sentenced in 2020 to 25 years to life in prison
    • 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
    • Keith Vallejo was a Mormon bishop in Utah; accused of sexually abusing and raping two underage girls; in 2017, was found guilty in a jury trial of ten counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse and one count of first-degree felony object rape; sentenced to five years to life in prison
    • Robert Westover was a former LDS bishop and attorney in Dallas, Texas; arrested in 2021 for allegedly recording a minor; pleaded guilty in 2023 and sentenced to 4 years probation
    • Dylan Whiting was an LDS bishop in Nampa, Idaho; was removed from his position in 2021 after child sexual abuse allegations surfaced; was charged with four sex crimes; pleaded guilty to one felony count; sentenced in 2022 to prison

 

Add information

If someone you know was harmed by the person listed on this page, or if you would like us to add or correct any information, please fill out the form below. We will keep you anonymous. You can also contact us directly.

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.

Browse the Mormon Sexual Abuse Database

FLOODLIT.org has a free public database of hundreds of reports about people who committed or allegedly committed sex crimes, including sexual abuse, while they were active Mormon church members. You can browse the entire database by LDS church position, number of victims, places where crimes took place, criminal/civil case results, and other criteria.