FLOODLIT.org provides reports about instances where members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon/LDS) allegedly perpetrated sex crimes, or where Mormon leaders allegedly failed to report sexual abuse or help sex abuse victims.

We hope our investigative reporting will facilitate healing, accurate discussion and positive change.

As we determine whether to include information in our database, we typically look for:

  • Public court records
  • Police documents (such as probable cause affidavits)
  • Records of formal criminal or civil charges
  • Reliable public news sources such as mainstream media reports or newspaper articles
  • Published books, podcasts, websites or other publicly accessible sources whose authors said they witnessed or were victims of sex crimes, and whose allegations have been discussed by a broad audience.
  • Information we receive directly from sexual abuse survivors or witnesses.

We typically evaluate information as follows:

  • LDS church participation: We do not create a case report if the accused was not an active member of the LDS Church when they allegedly perpetrated sex crimes, unless the case was widely discussed or involved alleged failure by LDS leaders to report sexual abuse.
  • Victims: We do not publish victims’ names unless they have given us permission, they have publicly identified themselves, or they are deceased.
  • Church discipline: We exclude information about LDS church disciplinary actions unless it is already published in a source we’re citing.
  • Places lived: We publish the names of cities/regions where an accused person has lived if they were found guilty of or liable for sex crimes. We do not publish street-level addresses.
  • Posthumous accusations: We hold accusations made after the death of an accused person to the same standards as those made while they were alive.
  • Acquittals and overturned/reversed court decisions: We do not unpublish case reports when accused individuals are acquitted, their convictions are overturned, or relevant court decisions are overturned or reversed, because our aim is to provide an accurate, helpful reference on this topic.
  • We remove records from our database if we determine that their publication may present a risk of harm to anyone.
  • We consider exceptions to the above criteria on a case-by-case basis.

Please keep in mind:

  • The US legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. A defendant in a civil action is presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise.
  • We do not claim to know whether any accusations are true. Our database is not a representation of the legal case history of an individual.

FLOODLIT is committed to truth, accuracy, and fairness. If we discover inaccurate information in the database, we correct it quickly.

We encourage you to contact us to correct or add information.