Mormon sexual abuse timeline

We’re working on a timeline of Mormon sex abuse-related events, policies and responses.

Please tell us about anything you’ve found regarding the LDS church’s history of dealing with sex abuse allegations.

1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979
1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989
1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999
2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019
2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025

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Chronology of events related to sexual abuse in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

1830

The Mormon church, led by Joseph Smith, is founded in western New York as “the Church of Christ.”

1975

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1976

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1977

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1978

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1979

The LDS church publishes a revised edition of a doctrinal manual, “Gospel Principles,” in which the following teachings about chastity, rape, sexual assault and sexual sin are represented:

: Gospel Principles, 1979, pp. 238-39

: Gospel Principles, 1979, pp. 240-41

: Gospel Principles, 1979, pp. 242-43

1980

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1981

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1982

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1983

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1984

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1985

The LDS church publishes a booklet titled Child Abuse: Help for Ecclesiastical Leaders.

In a general conference address, LDS church president Gordon Hinckley condemns “a plague of child abuse spreading across the world.”

1986

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1987

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1988

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1989

1990

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1991

Mormon apostle Thomas Monson speaks about child abuse and domestic violence during the October 1991 LDS general conference. He says, “When you and I know of [child abuse] and fail to take action to eradicate it, we become part of the problem. We share part of the guilt. We experience part of the punishment.”

A 1990 memo by Elder Glenn L. Pace on ritualistic sexual abuse is leaked to the press via Jerald and Sandra Tanner.

1992

1992: The Ensign publishes a first-person account by a female survivor of sexual abuse. Deseret Book publishes Blaine M. Yorgason’s novel Secrets. April Daniels and Carol Scott publish Paperdolls: Healing from Sexual Abuse in Mormon Neighborhoods.

LDS Church Administration Building, Salt Lake City, Utah

1993

1993: Deseret Book releases an audiotape by Cheiko Okazaki, Healing from Sexual Abuse: Eight Messages for Survivors, Family, and Leaders. It also publishes Confronting Abuse: An LDS Perspective on Understanding and Healing Emotional, Physical, Sexual, Psychological, and Spiritual Abuse. The Church settles a civil suit in California for “millions of dollars.”

1994

1994: Former General Authority George Lee pleads guilty to attempted sexual abuse of a child. President Hinckley speaks against physical and sexual abuse during the October General Conference. At a leadership meeting in Calgary, Alberta, President Hinckley says that sex abuse cases “are costing the Church millions of dollars in lawyers’ fees and settlements.”

1995

1995: The Church produces Responding to Abuse: Help for
Ecclesiastical Leaders (a revised version of their 1985 guide) and sets up a telephone helpline for Church leaders faced with child abuse cases.

1996

1996: “Adult Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse: The Case of Mormon Women” is published in Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work. The first volume of the Case Reports of the Mormon Alliance is published. Marion Smith publishes in the Event, a local Salt Lake weekly, an investigative report chronicling 16 cases of Mormon-related sexual abuse.

1997

Coming soon.

1998

1998: A new Church Handbook of Instructions is published with updated policies for dealing with child abuse. One of the changes requires annotation of the abuser’s membership record. A Texas jury awards $4 million to a boy molested at age eight by Church member Charles Blome.

1999

1999: The Church is named the 1999 “Child Advocate of the Year” by Prevent Child Abuse Utah. The Salt Lake Tribune re- ports that “more than forty plaintiffs have alleged church officials knew of molestations or ignored warning signs and failed to alert either victims’ families or authorities.”

2000

Coming soon.

2001

LDS leaders settle a child sexual abuse lawsuit for $3 million.

A North Carolina grand jury indicts Matthew Nash on twenty felony sex offenses committed while he was an LDS missionary.

2002

LDS church publishes a 12-minute video – Protect the Child: Responding to Child Abuse giving instructions to local church leaders about responding to possible child abuse and abusers in their congregations.

2002-07-02: The Salt Lake Tribune publishes a quote from LDS church spokesman Mike Otterson: “We are determined to pursue child abuse in the church where it exists, and we have an unsurpassed record in doing it.” Otterson was responding to news that a lawsuit had said Mormon leaders knew since 1975 that Mitchell Blake Young was abusing kids (10+ victims). Multiple alleged coverups, probation violation.
Salt Lake Tribune, 2002-07-02, page B4

“The secrecy with which we shroud the victim is nothing to the secrecy with which we shroud the perpetrator. […] He has committed a crime which he must answer for. […] I implore you not to shield perpetrators.” – Chieko Okazaki, “Healing From Sexual Abuse,” Oct. 23, 2002 at Brigham Young University

2003

Coming soon.

2004

Coming soon.

2005

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2006

Coming soon.

2007

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2008

Coming soon.

2009

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2010

2011

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2012

Coming soon.

2013

Coming soon.

2014

Coming soon.

2015

Coming soon.

2016

“I am requesting a reduction in sentence so that I can have the possibility to provide for my family. I am committed to them as well as to the Church of which I have been a member for twenty-six (26) years and was leading as bishop at the time of arrest.” – letter to a Texas judge by convicted sex offender and former Mormon bishop Raymond Casillas

2017

Coming soon.

2018

Coming soon.

2019

Coming soon.

2020

Coming soon.

2021

Coming soon.

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2022

January – former BYU professor charged with additional counts of sexual abuse. He was an LDS church member and BYU professor in Provo, Utah; charged with sexually abusing three students; entered a plea bargain in May 2023 in which he agreed to plead no contest to three class A misdemeanor charges of sexual battery, complete 24 months of probation, do 50 hours of community service, and take a sexual boundaries course; sentenced in June 2023 according to the plea deal.
April – Former bishop is sentenced for sexual abuse – was a bishop and dentist in Utah; also was a college professor; accused of nearly 60 years of sex abuse of multiple children; found guilty of attempted aggravated child sexual abuse; sentenced to up to 35 years in prison.
June – former LDS primary teacher pleads guilty to sexually abusing a girl from his ward
August – Former Utah state trooper, an alleged sexual abuser of a 13-year-old girl, dies
August – Major AP News story about Arizona sex abuse case and alleged Mormon church coverup
August 17 – Mormon church official statement in response to the AP story on the Paul Adams case: “[T]here can be no mincing of words, no hint of apathy and no tolerance for any suggestion that we are neglectful or not doing enough on the issue of child abuse.”
August – Key ruling regarding $250 million proposed payment by LDS church in Boy Scouts case
August – San Diego LDS church coverup story told by sexual abuse victims (daughters of the accused)
September – former San Francisco Bay Area lawyer charged with additional child sex crimes
September – former LDS bishop and West Bountiful, UT mayor arrested on accusations of child sexual abuse
September – former Utah Assistant Attorney General arrested on child pornography charges
September – First public arrest made in Utah ritualistic abuse investigation
November – former elders quorum president sentenced to 30 years in prison for child sexual abuse
November – former Church website music composer sentenced to at least 25 years in prison for sexually abusing preteen girls
December – former Idaho city councilman signs plea agreement indicating he will admit to lawd conduct with a minor
December – former Michigan scout leader sentenced to 12 to 20 years in prison for child sexual assault

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2023

January 2023

Case report – Mormon church settles for $1.1 million in a civil lawsuit brought by a man who was sexually abused as a preschooler by a teenage volunteer in his Tacoma, Washington ward.

February 2023

Case report – a former LDS church youth leader in Utah pleads guilty to four counts of felony child sexual abuse. Police say he paid a victim thousands of dollars not to tell anyone. He is later sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

March 2023

Case report – a former Mormon bishop and former mayor of West Bountiful, Utah is sentenced to prison for child sexual abuse. He allegedly confessed to multiple LDS bishops about his sexual criminal behavior, but was not reported to police by any of them. Some of his sex crimes occurred years after his initial alleged confession to a Mormon bishop.
Case report – a Utah Mormon man who helped raise 54 foster children is charged with forcible sexual abuse of a 15-year-old girl.
Case report – a former Mormon bishopric counselor and Idaho city councilman is sentenced to prison after sexually abusing a girl for 7 years.

April 2023

Case report – a federal court in New Mexico grants partial judgment in favor of the LDS church, saying that priests’ sexual misdeeds do NOT fall within the scope of “church employment.” The alleged sexual abuse occurred in the 1960s by a Mormon branch president (Las Vegas, New Mexico Branch).
Case report – an LDS church member and former Primary worker in the Redmond, Washington area admits to investigators to sexually abusing around six to eight young boys over a period of multiple years. Some of the alleged child sexual abuse occurred during Sunday sacrament meetings, in view of multiple adults.
Case report – A California jury awards a sexual abuse victim $2.28 billion in a default verdict against her stepfather who she claimed had abused her for years, starting when she was 6 years old. The LDS church settled in December 2022 for $995,000, which resulted in it being released from being a defendant in the lawsuit. During the abuser’s sentencing, only one adult (not LDS) sat with the victim. Several LDS members, including her mother and bishop, sat on the abuser’s side.

May 2023

Case report – a Mormon church member in Utah is charged with multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a minor on suspicion of his involvement in sex tourism and distribution of child sexual abuse material, or CSAM (commonly referred to as child pornography, or CP).

June 2023

Case report – an LDS church member and former BYU professor in Provo, Utah is sentenced according to a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead no contest to three class A misdemeanor charges of sexual battery, complete 24 months of probation, do 50 hours of community service, and take a sexual boundaries course. He had been accused by three former students of sexually abusing them.
Case report – an LDS church member in Idaho was sentenced to 8 to 18 years in prison for sexual abuse of an underage victim. He sexually assaulted his victim while his family was at Mormon church meetings.

July 2023

Case report – former Mormon missionary arrested in Idaho and charged with rape of a minor. He was caught in a sting operation in December 2022 in Virginia while on his mission, and accused of soliciting explicit pictures and video from a person he believed to be an 11-year-old girl. We spoke with a source familiar with the case, who told us that the defendant’s Mormon leaders failed to inform his congregation about the reason he was sent home early from his mission.
Case report – $10.3 million lawsuit filed against former Mormon “ministering brother” (home teacher) and youth leader awaiting trial for child sex abuse in Virginia.

August 2023

Case report – a retired Mormon police officer and former Utah Valley University adjunct professor in American Fork, Utah was arrested and charged with 11 felony counts related to child sexual exploitation. He allegedly tried recording a 13-year-old girl showering. Investigators found 300+ child sexual abuse material (CSAM) images/videos on his devices.
Case report – an LDS church member and president of the National Association of Realtors resigns after accusations of sexual misconduct. He is a former Mormon ward young men’s leader in Utah and bishopric counselor in a BYU-Provo ward.

September 2023

Case report – In Colorado, a former Mormon stake president and deputy district attorney is charged with felony sexual assault on a child by a someone in a position of trust. A ward bishopric in his LDS stake sends its members an email about it. He is a grandson of deceased Mormon apostle Bruce McConkie.

October 2023

Case report – Tim Ballard is publicly accused of sexual misconduct in multiple civil lawsuits.
Case report – A Uintah County, Utah attorney is charged with voyeurism and stalking after allegedly filming his female employees in his law firm’s bathroom.
Case report – An Idaho LDS man who counseled sexual trauma survivors pleads guilty to felony sexual abuse or exploitation of a vulnerable adult. He had admitted to using a nonverbal adult in his care as a “sexual object.”

November 2023

Case report – Arizona court cites clergy-penitent privilege as it dismisses a child sex abuse lawsuit filed by abuse victims against the Mormon church.
Case report – A former Mormon bishop and therapist in Utah is arrested and charged with sexually assaulting up to a dozen men during therapy sessions dealing with their homosexuality. The exmormon subreddit played a role in gathering information leading up to his arrest.
Case report – A former Mormon bishop and stake presidency member is sentenced to prison for child sexual abuse.
Case report – Story breaks that a known sexual predator assigned to work with Mormon youth in Georgia had been convicted not only in Utah, but also in Scotland.
Case report – Several sexual abuse victims hold a press conference to speak publicly about their experiences with Tim Ballard, a prominent Utah Mormon and activist against human trafficking.

December 2023

Case report – The Associated Press reports that the Mormon church paid a sexual abuse victim $300,000 to not use her story as the basis of a lawsuit against it, and to keep the payment secret. We’ve spoken with multiple sources familiar with this case.

2024

15+ Mormon sex crime convictions in 2024

January 2024

Former LDS bishopric counselor Cortney Andrew is sentenced in Utah to 60 days in jail with work release. The victim, a teen girl, told detectives she began texting with him to receive counseling. His texts then turned inappropriate and sexually graphic.

Tim Ballard, anti-trafficking advocate, faces four new sexual assault charges.

AP: New Mormon apostle Patrick Kearon says the LDS church must do better to help sex abuse victims heal

Pennsylvania stake president Rhett Hintze is charged with failure to report sexual abuse of a child. Related case: Shawn Gooden

FLOODLIT.org launches a “failure to report” database to document instances where LDS church leaders allegedly kept sexual abuse allegations secret from law enforcement authorities or failed to help abuse victims.

February 2024

Ken Richens, a former hospital CIO in Utah, pleads guilty to sex crimes.

FLOODLIT.org announces that it has documented at least 41 ongoing criminal cases involving Mormon defendants accused of sex crimes, including child sexual abuse.

West Linn, Oregon city council releases documents on an independent investigation into how its police department investigated former doctor David Farley, an LDS church member accused of sexual assault by over 200 victims. He was never charged. Report says lead detective was unqualified.

Former Colorado stake president David McConkie (a grandson of Mormon apostle Bruce McConkie) pleads not guilty to child sex abuse charges, despite a plea deal offer. He is a former deputy district attorney. A police PC affidavit says he confessed sexual abuse of a child to an LDS leader in 2008. That leader’s name is redacted in the affidavit.

A Utah woman sues LDS nurse practitioner Derrick Pickering for alleged sexual assault during cosmetic procedure. Three other women had reported (two to Utah Valley University campus police, one to Draper police) that he had touched them during medical procedures in inappropriate ways.

March 2024

FLOODLIT.org announces that it has documented 100 “failure to report” cases so far, where Mormon clergy allegedly failed to report sexual abuse allegations to police or legal authorities.

In Heber City, Utah, Mitchell McKee, a licensed marriage and family therapist with experience helping Mormon clients address “pre and post mission sexual issues,” is arrested on suspicion of child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of a minor. He is also a retired Utah State Highway Patrol officer.

In Idaho, Mormon church member Eric Jones is sentenced to two to 20 years in prison for “felony battery with intent to commit lewd conduct with a minor.” He tearfully tells the court he is an avid church-goer and has finished a 12-part addiction recovery course.

Former Mormon bishop John Goodrich is arrested in Virginia on suspicion of child sexual abuse, three months after the Associated Press reported on an LDS church $300,000 payment offer to the victim.

Former LDS missionary Kurt Vanwagoner is arrested in Centerville, Utah and charged with 10 felony counts of child sexual exploitation. He admitted to sharing child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Police say he chatted online about secretly taking photos of women during LDS church meetings and recently worked with young men in his Mormon ward.

April 2024

South Jordan, Utah Mormon primary teacher Joseph Dunlop is charged with five felony counts related to child sexual abuse. According to a probable cause affidavit, he “told law enforcement that he wants to sexually abuse children and that children are not safe around him.”

Former LDS bishop and stake presidency counselor DeRon Olsen is sentenced in Washington to five years in prison for child sexual abuse over 15 years.

May 2024

Former Mormon missionary Calvin McGee is sentenced to prison in Idaho for sexual assault of a minor. During his LDS mission in Virginia, McGee also admitted on video to soliciting a minor. A family member of the Idaho victim told FLOODLIT a Boise bishop told young women leaders not to report sexual abuse of another child.

Former Teton County, Idaho sheriff’s deputy and Mormon church member Troy Dameron is sentenced to 15 days in jail (with work release) and two years probation for indecent exposure to a 911 dispatcher during work. His attorney praised Dameron’s participation in an LDS church 12-step program for porn/sex addiction.

Former Mormon bishop Tevita Mounga is arrested in Salt Lake City, Utah and charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl who was walking home from school.

June 2024

Former Utah OB/GYN David Broadbent is criminally charged with forcible sexual abuse, more than two years after initial accusations by women (eventually over 200) that he sexually assaulted them during “premarital exams” and other healthcare appointments.

Criminal charges are dropped against Mormon stake president Rhett Hintze after he was accused in January of failure to report child sexual abuse.

Former LDS scout leader and retired air traffic controller Alan Bassett is charged in Utah with nine felony counts of child sexual abuse. According to charging documents, he “admitted that he sexually abused many neighbor children while he was living in Davis County.”

Logan, Utah temple worker and former stake presidency member David Keller is charged with seven first-degree felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child.

Utah LDS church member Ruth Worthen is arrested and charged with 23 first-degree felonies related to child sex abuse, including prostituting kids. Some alleged abuse took place in a Mormon church bathroom. A family member was secretly recorded saying he saw her crimes in a vision but chose to “let it go.”

July 2024

In California, a newly filed civil lawsuit says the Mormon church failed to report sexual abuse by former ward executive secretary Craig Harward. In 2004, Harward, a former elementary school “teacher of the year” in Santa Clara County, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for molesting multiple children.

August 2024

Nearly 100 civil lawsuits are filed in California against the Mormon church, alleging sexual abuse by a church leader or member and failure by LDS church leaders to protect victims.

September 2024

FLOODLIT.org announces that it has surpassed 1,000 documented cases of sexual abuse or other sex crimes allegedly perpetrated by Mormon leaders or church members.

Chubbuck, Idaho LDS young men’s leader Virgil Larson is arrested. Police say that from 2023-24, he molested at least five boys he led at church, ages 12-15. Police report says Kirton McConkie (LDS law firm) contacted Idaho Dept. of Health and Welfare, which told local police in July.

A new civil lawsuit claims an LDS bishop in Arizona secretly encouraged a relationship between a 16-year-old girl and a former LDS bishop in Missouri, and that an LDS counselor (church employee) kept the abuse secret. The former Missouri bishop, Larry Deutsch, is in federal prison.

October 2024

FLOODLIT.org breaks the story about the nearly 100 California civil lawsuits filed beginning in August.

November 2024

A volunteer indexing project launches at FLOODLIT.org to catalog information related to criminal and civil cases involving allegations of sexual abuse by Mormon leaders or church members.

The FLOODLIT.org database of accused individuals surpasses 4,000 published case reports, after adding information about approximately 3,000 reports of sexual abuse by former Boy Scouts who said a Mormon scout leader abused them.

A newly filed Illinois lawsuit says a Mormon bishop, Douglas Holyoak, sexually assaulted an underage girl in 2000 in his office when she reported sexual harassment by other youth. She then told a stake presidency counselor, who attempted to gaslight her, according to the suit. He later became a stake and mission president.

December 2024

A KUTV news article is altered within hours of publication, removing references to the Mormon church after initially reporting that LDS “temple prep” class teacher Paul Spencer was criminally charged with multiple felonies related to arranging to meet a police detective posing as a 13-year-old girl for sexual assault in Lehi, Utah.

2025

Coming soon.

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