70 matching Mormon sex abuse cases

      • Terry Allen was an LDS church member in California; in 1987, was found guilty of sexual abuse of a child and was sentenced to six years in prison; was assigned to multiple trusted church positions, including Sunday school president, despite the Mormon church being aware that he had raped a teenager; LDS leaders were accused of hiding his abuse from local church members; as of 2024, lives in Grapevine, Texas
      • Alleged coverup
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated, Rebaptized,
      • Larren Arnold was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Idaho; in 1984, arrested for lewd conduct with a minor under 16; convicted, received a five-year suspended sentence and three years probation; Mormon leaders allegedly covered up Arnold's abuse; the Mormon church made a $50,000 settlement payment to a victim in 2001, and a payment to another victim in 2012; died in 2017
      • Alleged coverup
      • LDS church payment: $50,000
      • Eric Avant was a Mormon cub scout leader in Norfolk, Virginia; convicted in 1979 of sodomizing an 11-year-old; Mormon leaders allegedly knew of his sexual attraction to young boys but did not check police records; convicted in 1988 of 14 counts of aggravated sexual battery and sentenced to 26 years in prison for molesting nine boys; had as many as 41 alleged victims; the church settled a lawsuit in 1992
      • Alleged coverup
      • LDS church payment: $2,000,000
      • Norman Barber was a Mormon church member and dentist in Layton, Utah; was a scout leader; pleaded guilty in 1988 to sexually abusing two girls who were his dental patients; the sexual abuse occurred in his dental office and included drugging one or both girls with nitrous oxide
      • Alleged coverup
      • Bryan Barner was a Mormon church member in New York in the 1980s; scout leader, molested a 12-year-old boy and two 13-year-old boys; sentenced to no more than one year in prison
      • David Bennett was an LDS church member and scout leader in California and Korea; convicted in 1987 in California of child sexual abuse; moved to Korea; was assigned to be an LDS young men's president and scoutmaster; was accused of molesting several boys; disappeared in 1991; FLOODLIT is attempting to locate him
      • Alleged coverup
      • Robert Berchtold was a Mormon church member in Idaho; sexually abused a child; in 1986, was found guilty of rape of a child and spent one year in jail
      • Arthur Bishop was a Mormon boy scout leader in Utah; was excommunicated in the 1970s; later molested multiple children and killed five young boys; was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 1988
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • David Borg was a Mormon church member and scout leader; pleaded guilty to molesting multiple boys; sentenced to 34 years in prison
      • Dennis Bough was a Mormon church member in Washington; pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse charges
      • Gerald Burgie was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Utah; charged in 1981 with third-degree felony forcible sexual abuse; convicted of attempted sexual abuse of a child
      • Ralph Burlingame was an LDS church member in Minnesota; sentenced in 1989 to prison for 2nd degree criminal sexual abuse of a child
      • Jon Carpenter was an LDS church member; sentenced to prison for child sexual abuse; the day after sentencing, injured himself to avoid serving longer in prison
      • Niles Carr was a Mormon missionary in Ireland in the late 1980s, originally from California; convicted of child sexual abuse charges; Mormon leaders allegedly assigned Carr to work with Boy Scouts after knowing he was sent home from his mission due to child sex abuse allegations
      • Alleged coverup
      • John Cox was a Mormon church member in Clackamas County, Oregon; convicted of child sexual abuse
      • Thomas Dawkins was an LDS church member in Columbia, South Carolina; accused of sexual abuse; convicted in 1986; the conviction was later overturned
      • Michael Driggs was a Mormon missionary in Brazil in the early 1970s; allegedly sent to a different mission in the United States after being found having inappropriate relationships with young boys; convicted of child sexual abuse in 1985 in Arizona; convicted again of child sexual abuse in 2013 in Utah; he met his victim in the Utah case at church, according to court documents
      • Alleged coverup
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • Timur Dykes was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Portland, Oregon; accused of sexual abuse; convicted multiple times; in 1987, three plaintiffs sued the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts of America; in about 2009, the Mormon church paid $350,000 to a victim to settle its portion of a civil lawsuit
      • Alleged coverup
      • LDS church payment: $350,000
      • Oliver Eames was an LDS church member, sixth grade teacher and Mormon Tabernacle Choir singer in Farmington, Utah; admitted to trying to fondle several children he had been hired to tutor; pleaded guilty in 1988 to two felony counts of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child; local police had documented 52 alleged child sexual abuse incidents involving him
      • Vernon Foster was an LDS church member in Louisiana; accused of sexual abuse; pleaded guilty
      • William Gillespie was an LDS church member in Montgomery, Alabama; accused of reaching inside the swimsuits of two girls and fondling them in his backyard pool in 1987; convicted in 1988 of three charges of first-degree sexual abuse and sentenced to one year in prison, plus four years of probation; conviction was reversed on appeal, then upheld; was allegedly excommunicated from the Mormon church
      • Alleged coverup
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • Jay Grant was a Mormon bishop of the Adams Ward in Los Angeles, California; charged in 1981, at age 79, with five counts of forcible sexual abuse; sexually assaulted three young girls; convicted of all five counts; died in 1988 in Orem, Utah; ran "Grandpa Grant's Memory Club," a neighborhood study group for up to 175 LDS children; Grant sometimes had "students" spend the night at his apartment
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • Albert Halladay was a former LDS bishop in Sandy, Utah; accused of sexual abuse in 1988; pleaded guilty in 1989 to one second degree felony charge of sex abuse of a child; convicted
      • Leroy Hamblin was a Webelos scout leader in Kaysville, Utah; pleaded guilty in 1987 to lewdness with a child; served prison time
      • Harvey Harper was an LDS church member and deputy county district attorney in Los Angeles, California; arrested in 1984 and charged with child sexual abuse; jumped bail; found guilty; sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison; lived secretly in Colorado for 20 months until federal investigators found him; local LDS church coverup alleged
      • Alleged coverup
      • James Hogan was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Oregon; in 1989, was sentenced to five years in prison for child sexual abuse; released in 1994; in 2011, a victim filed a civil lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America, seeking $5.2 million; the Mormon church settled with two victims for $800,000 and $75,000
      • Alleged coverup
      • LDS church payment: $875,000
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • Les Johnson was a Mormon church member in northern Utah; found guilty of child sexual abuse; was granted parole in 1984 in Utah after serving 7 months of a 0-5 year prison sentence; as of 2023, lives in Bountiful, Utah
      • Willis King was an LDS church member in California; accused of sexual abuse; pleaded guilty
      • Michael Larsen was an LDS church member and scout leader in Utah; convicted in the 1980s of child sexual abuse; as of 2023, lives in Tooele, Utah
      • Robert Longman was a Mormon missionary in Corpus Christi, Texas; molested a three-year old in a bedroom while two other missionaries talked with the mother; pleaded no contest to charges filed in May 1989 of indecency with a child; sentenced to eight years probation, a $1,000 fine, and required to pay $400 in court costs
      • Dennis Loveless was a Mormon church member in Farmington, Utah; accused of sexual abuse in 1977 and 1984; sentenced to prison both times; died in 2016
      • Craig Mathias was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Granada Hills, California; was in the Northridge ward until 1983; convicted in 1987 of sexually molesting multiple boy scouts; sentenced to six years in prison
      • Alleged coverup
      • Franklin Mathias was a Mormon church member and Boy scout leader in Oregon; had a career as a schoolteacher; accused in 1987 of sexual abuse; sentenced in 1988 to four years in prison for molesting a child; he said that he had 242 victims over a 30-year period
      • Norman Maxfield was an LDS church member and high school drama teacher in Utah; convicted in 1988 of sexually abusing boys
      • Robert Metcalf was a Mormon in California, Arizona; convicted of child sexual abuse in 1974; sentenced in 1979 to six years in prison; excommunicated; after prison, was rebaptized, made a scout leader and allegedly molested a scout on a campout in about 1987, according to a 1990 civil lawsuit against the LDS church; sentenced in Arizona in 1989 to 37 years in prison; 2020 lawsuit vs. LDS church
      • Alleged coverup
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • Ronald Mills was an LDS church member in Orange, New South Wales, Australia; accused of sexual abuse; convicted; sentenced in or around 1982 to 3 years in jail
      • Jay Mitchell was an Mormon church member and scout leader in Oregon; sentenced to a total of sixty years in prison with a minimum of thirty years, for child sexual abuse
      • Thomas Monson was an attorney for the LDS church's law firm, Kirton McConkie; In 1989, Monson paid a $75 fine and was placed on probation after he pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting sex from a prostitute; sued in the 1990s for sexual harassment; reached a settlement with the victim; was a Mormon bishop in Utah in 2008
      • Daniel Montoya was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Long Beach, California; pleaded guilty in 1986 to charges of child sexual abuse
      • Jared Murray was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Rexburg, Idaho; pleaded guilty in 1989 to a child sexual abuse charge
      • Richard Nelson was an LDS church member in Colorado; pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse
      • Robert Nelson was an LDS bishop in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; accused of sexual abuse of a "mentally handicapped" woman; pleaded guilty in 1989; placed on two years probation, ordered to do 150 hours of community service, and ordered to take a conducted tour of a local jail
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • Rand Newby was an LDS church member and scout leader in Washington, Oregon and San Francisco, California; had a career as a schoolteacher; charged in Oregon in 1986 with sexual abuse of two children; convicted of two counts, one class C felony and one class A misdemeanor; sentenced in 1987 to 5 years probation
      • Steven Paris was an LDS church member in Anaheim, California; accused in 1986 of sexual abuse of seven boys; pleaded guilty to abusing six of them; was scheduled to receive a 30-year sentence
      • Alleged coverup
      • Leslie Paul was an LDS church member in Arizona; charged with child sexual abuse; found guilty on 32 counts; sentenced in about 1989 to over 400 years in prison
      • Brian Peterson was an LDS church member and scout leader in Orem, Utah; accused of sexual abuse; convicted and sentenced to prison
      • David Phipps/Verity was an LDS church member and dentist in Sacramento, California; pleaded no contest in 1987 to two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery involving two of his patients; In 1994, also pleaded no contest to two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery; served time in jail and had dental license revoked
      • Errol Pilling was a Mormon bishop and licensed psychologist in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; went on an LDS mission to England in the early 1960s; pleaded guilty in 1988 and in 1994 to charges of sexual misconduct; in September 1994, his registration as a chartered psychologist with the Psychologists Association of Alberta was cancelled; in 1994, was excommunicated; as of February 2024, lives in Twin Falls, Idaho
      • Alleged coverup
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • Kenneth Rarick was a Mormon church member in Alaska; accused of sexual abuse; convicted
      • Richard Ray was an LDS church member in Arizona; sentenced in 1984 to 61 years in prison for molesting five girls; allegedly had more than 30 victims; the LDS church was involved in a lawsuit regarding clergy-penitent privilege; the church settled out of court for an undisclosed amount just before trial
      • Alleged coverup
      • LDS church payment: Undisclosed amount
      • Church discipline: Excommunicated,
      • Phillip Rimmasch was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Utah in the 1980s; had a 50-plus year career as a mortician; convicted of child sexual abuse; on appeal, the Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial in 1989
      • Trent Rogers was a Mormon church member in Arizona; accused of sexual abuse; pleaded guilty in 1986 and was sentenced to three years probation; a woman sued the Mormon church in 1986
      • Alleged coverup
      • Eldon Saling was a Mormon church member in California and Utah; convicted in 1987 in California and in 1993 in Utah of charges related to sexual abuse; as of 2024, lives in Burley, Idaho as a registered sex offender
      • James Samuels was a Mormon church member in Thornton, Idaho; found guilty of LEWD COND WITH A MINOR CHILD U/16 Date : 03-18-1980
      • James Schmidt was an LDS church member and scout leader, with multiple charges of child sexual abuse over six years; convicted in Idaho; convicted in the late 1990s in Maryland; as of 2024, registered as a sex offender
      • Alleged coverup
      • Charles Snider was an LDS church member in Georgia; accused of sexual abuse
      • Sidney Spencer was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Idaho; convicted in 1984 of child sexual abuse; a Mormon bishop approved his application to be a scout leader despite his prior sex crime conviction
      • Alleged coverup
      • James Stringham was a Mormon church member and pediatric physician in Salt Lake City, Utah; in 1980, he made a video recording of a sexual nature involving a child patient; in 1982, pleaded no contest to a second-degree felony charge of sexual exploitation of a minor; sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay $7,500 restitution; his medical license was suspended for 90 days
      • Anthony Teeples was an LDS church member in Cache County, Utah; accused of sexual abuse; convicted in 1989 and in 2019
      • John Tholen was a Mormon church member; sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing children he babysat with his wife Judith Tholen, who also sexually abused them
      • Judith Tholen was a Mormon church member; sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing children she babysat with her husband John Tholen, who also sexually abused them
      • Homer Van Matre was an LDS church member in Salt Lake County, Utah; found guilty of sexual abuse of child and sodomy on a child; charges were reversed on appeal when child recanted her story
      • Edwin Wilcox was a Mormon church member in Idaho; ran a therapy center for "handicapped people" (as described in 1989 news article); convicted of child sexual abuse in 1988 and sentenced to up to 20 years in prison
      • Harvey Wright was an LDS church member and scout leader in Flagstaff, AZ; in 1988, pleaded guilty to "Attempted Sexual Abuse/Dangerous Crimes Against Children" and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and four years probation; placed in the BSA Confidential Files ("Perversion Files")
      • Mitchell Young was an LDS missionary in Canada; in 1980, was sent home after allegedly molesting children; convicted in Arizona (1985) and Utah (1988) of child sexual abuse; in 1993, sentenced in Utah to 15 years in prison for molesting a child for five years; a 2002 lawsuit against the LDS church accused Mormon leaders of providing a safe harbor for him; as of 2024, lives in Ogden, Utah; registered sex offender
      • Alleged coverup

     

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    FLOODLIT.org has a free public database of hundreds of reports about people who committed or allegedly committed sex crimes, including sexual abuse, while they were active Mormon church members. You can browse the entire database by LDS church position, number of victims, places where crimes took place, criminal/civil case results, and other criteria.