Today, the Washington State Attorney General’s office announced that clergy in Washington will remain mandatory reporters under stipulations filed today by the AG‘s office and the plaintiffs (two religious organizations) in lawsuits against Washington over Senate bill 5375, which passed in May 2025.
The new agreement protects Catholic priests from having to report abuse they learn of in the rite of confession.
While the announcement does not address the Mormon church directly, it does say that prosecutors have agreed “not to enforce reporting requirements for information clergy learn solely through confession or its equivalent in other faiths.”
The Mormon church is currently facing at least three ongoing lawsuits in Washington over child sexual abuse.
In all three cases, Mormon clergy allegedly allowed known child sexual predators to continue spending time around children, including at church and during church activities, allowing more children to be abused.
Floodlit continues to report on these and other lawsuits on our website at https://floodlit.org.
We have obtained copies of court documents in all three ongoing lawsuits:
- Francis Cochran case report
- 2025 WA Lawsuit: Complaint re: alleged child sex abuse by Francis Cochran
- David Herget case report
- 2025 WA Lawsuit: John Roes 1-4 v. Mormon church re: alleged child sexual abuse by David Herget
- Paydan Bussey case report
- 2025 WA Lawsuit: Complaint re: alleged child sex abuse by Paydan Bussey