Last week, a Utah judge replaced a child sexual exploiter’s prison sentence with 112 days in jail and 48 months probation, saying he was “not yet a 75-year-old Mormon bishop who is perpetrating on children and grandchildren.”
FLOODLIT has found 30 ex-bishops convicted of CSA-related crimes in Utah.
On May 20, 22-year-old Aidan Hoffman was sentenced by Utah Seventh District Judge Don M. Torgerson to jail time and probation after being convicted of two second-degree felony charges of sexual exploitation of a minor.
“Judge Torgerson […] said that Hoffman was not yet a 75-year-old ‘Mormon bishop’ who is perpetrating on children and grandchildren, and hopes that he will never become that.”
While some may find the judge’s reference to a “75-year-old Mormon bishop” oddly specific, FLOODLIT has identified 30 former LDS bishops convicted of crimes related to child sexual abuse in Utah alone, and more than 125 credibly accused worldwide.
Speaking of Mormon bishops accused of sexually abusing children, here are more than 125 of them: https://floodlit.org/lpe/ever-bishop/
In Utah alone, we know of at least 30 who were convicted: https://floodlit.org/location-crime/crime-utah/criminal-result/criminal-convicted/lpe/ever-bishop/
View them on a map (choose “Bishop” in the “LDS position(s)” dropdown): https://floodlit.org/view-map/
Some of those former Utah bishops were in their 70s when they allegedly molested children. Examples:
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- Heber 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
Regarding Aidan Hoffman, we’re still looking for information regarding whether he was a Mormon church member.
Please contact us with any info: https://floodlit.org/report-abuse/
