Floodlit.org has learned of a newly filed federal lawsuit against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over allegations of child sexual abuse by former Mormon bishop John Goodrich.
The lawsuit, filed on Dec. 24, 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, names the church and its Victorville California Stake as defendants. John Goodrich is not a named defendant.
The plaintiff is an adult male who alleges that in 1999, Goodrich sexually abused him on multiple occasions “during Church activities and on Defendants’ premises, including the Desert Knolls Ward and Mojave Narrows Ward in Apple Valley, California.”
The complaint alleges that “in or about 1999, Bishop John Goodrich confessed to leaders within the Church that he had engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl. Despite this confession, Defendants failed to report Goodrich to authorities, failed to take reasonable steps to protect other children, and instead turned a blind eye, thereby enabling Goodrich to continue abusing children, including Plaintiff.”
The lawsuit says Goodrich traveled with the victim on visits to California. Based on our research, Floodlit believes this John Goodrich is the same person currently facing criminal charges in Virginia for child sexual abuse.
John Goodrich child sexual abuse allegations
John Goodrich has never been convicted of a sex crime.
Goodrich’s case was featured in a 2023 Associated Press report showing that the Mormon church offered an abuse survivor $300,000 in exchange for promises not to sue the church, to keep the settlement secret, and to destroy audio recordings of meetings with church risk management director Paul Rytting.
Goodrich was bishop of the Mountain Home 1st Ward in the Mountain Home Idaho Stake from 1999 to approximately 2005. Official church directories from 2002 to 2005 do not list any other bishops named John Goodrich.
As of January 2026, Goodrich’s Virginia criminal case is proceeding through pre-trial motions. His Idaho dentistry license remains active. Two prior criminal cases in Idaho ended without convictions: one ended when charges were dropped because a Mormon bishop was unable to testify, and the other resulted in a withheld judgment despite Goodrich’s guilty plea.
Floodlit.org reporting supported in forum discussion mentioned in lawsuit
A footnote on page 11 of the complaint contains a link to an online forum post about another child sexual abuse lawsuit against the Mormon church. The forum post and one of the replies to it contain links to case reports at Floodlit.org.
We are delighted to see our reporting gaining visibility.
Floodlit is working on making a copy of the complaint available in our Documents area.
Floodlit will continue to monitor and report on this and hundreds of other ongoing cases involving alleged sex crimes by Mormon church members and alleged failures by church officials. (Ongoing criminal cases / ongoing civil cases)
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Federal case number:
Case 5:25-cv-03545
San Bernardino County case number:
CIVVS2507267
