23 matching Mormon sex abuse cases

  • Crime years: 1960s
    • 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
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • LDS church payment: $50,000
    • Wyman Blankenship was a Mormon church member; scout leader, pleaded guilty to molesting boys
    • Dennis Collins was an LDS church member in Washington; pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse
    • Luke Dalton was a Mormon church member; admitted to sexually abusing dozens of boys over decades in Ohio, Montana and Utah; arrested in 1997 in Utah for sexually abusing his only son; convicted and sentenced to prison; served 3.5 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
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • Edwin Dyer was a Mormon church member and scoutmaster in central Oregon; accused of sexual abuse; allegedly molested as many as 15 boys over a 28-year period; shot and killed in 1986 by one of his victims; the Mormon church settled out of court for $200,000 with one victim
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • LDS church payment: $200,000
    • Joel Houck was an LDS church member in California; accused in the 1960s of sexual abuse; convicted of vagrancy in 1966 and served 10 days in jail; in 1967, placed in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) "perversion files"
    • 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
    • Vernon Sanford was an LDS church member in San Diego, California; died in 2000; in 2024, accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse, along with his son, Vernon Sanford Jr; the suit was one of 91 or more coordinated civil suits filed in California in 2024 against the Mormon church; the alleged abuse occurred between 1961 and 1970; the Sanfords were the plaintiff's LDS home teachers
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • Vernon Sanford was an LDS church member in San Diego, California; died in 2000; in 2024, accused in a civil lawsuit of child sexual abuse, along with his father, Vernon Sanford Sr; the suit was one of 91 or more coordinated civil suits filed in California in 2024 against the Mormon church; the alleged abuse occurred between 1961 and 1970; the Sanfords were the plaintiff's LDS home teachers
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • Orin Searle was an LDS church member in Ogden, Utah; accused of sexual abuse in 2013 but was deemed incompetent to stand trial; a victim said that Searle's predatory behavior began as early as the late 1950s, and that several family members, and multiple members of the LDS 44th Ward (Mount Ogden Stake), knew that Searle was a child molester but did nothing to stop him; died in 2014
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse
    • Emmett White was a Mormon church member and scout leader in Florida; was caught in 1966 by local police soliciting an adult sex worker (prostitute); denied any inappropriate behavior around scouts
    • LaVar Withers was a Mormon and physician in Rexburg, Idaho; accused of sexually abusing at least 133 women and children as young as 13 years old over a period of 30 or more years; admitted to sexual abuse; in 1996, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery; sentenced to 30 to 60 days in jail and two years probation; the Mormon church placed him on probation and took his temple recommend; died in 2005
    • Church officials allegedly failed to report abuse