Did you know that right now there are convicted child sexual abusers in leadership positions in the Mormon church?
Men and women (but likely at least 95% men) upon whom the church has placed a stamp of approval to be around, teach or even go on overnight trips with children, despite the fact that they’ve sexually abused children?
Have you heard about the Mormon apostle’s brother arrested 11 days ago for alleged child sexual abuse? Or the new stake high council member in Texas who is a lifetime registered sex offender and convicted child sexual abuser? Or the Utah man who was an elder’s quorum president as of 2024, and was assigned to that position after his conviction for child sexual abuser?
All 4,132 case reports (and counting) in the Floodlit.org Mormon sexual abuse database rely on court proceedings, public records, news reports or academic journals as sources to help answer questions like these. We’ve also communicated with thousands of abuse survivors and witnesses in these cases, adding facts and quotes they’ve provided.
If you have any information about sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by members of the Mormon church, or how Mormon officials handled abuse allegations, please tell us about it:
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Wade Christofferson: An apostle’s brother faces child sex abuse charges
Wade Christofferson, a brother of Mormon apostle D. Todd Christofferson, was arrested on Nov. 20, 2025 for alleged child sexual abuse and exploitation.
When arrested, Wade Christofferson was a counselor in his Ohio stake Sunday School presidency.
In the 1990s, the church excommunicated him, according to two abuse survivors who communicated with Floodlit, after at least three girls told an Illinois bishop of abuse. But church officials approved Christofferson for rebaptism and, starting in 2006, made Wade Christofferson a bishopric counselor in three different bishoprics, according to records provided to Floodlit.
At some point, he went on to sexually abuse two more children, according to federal prosecutors.
In 2022, one of Wade Christofferson’s victims confronted him in person and asked him if he was excommunicated and rebaptized. He admitted that he was, she told Floodlit.
Another survivor came forward in 2023, telling Floodlit that Todd Christofferson, the Mormon apostle, knew as early as 2018 that his brother Wade had allegedly sexual abused her.
Raymond Casillas: Convicted child sexual abuser joins a stake high council
In December 2011, Ray Casillas invited a 13-year-old eighth-grade student to his classroom for lunch, locked the door and groped her, then forced her to perform sex acts on him, the girl told a forensic interviewer, according to court documents.
Less than two years later, the Mormon church made Casillas a bishop, its officials allegedly unaware.
In 2016, Casillas requested a reduction in sentence. Here is an image showing an excerpt from his letter to the court, in which Casillas says he “was leading as bishop at the time of arrest” in 2014:
Casillas was released from prison on parole in April 2021 and registered as a sex offender.
On Nov. 9, 2025, Casillas was set apart as a member of the San Antonio Texas Stake high council, according to a Reddit poster:
Mutliple individuals in the stake contacted Floodlit to confirm the event.
According to a commenter on the Nov. 9 Reddit post, Casillas’s special assignment is military relations, giving him potential access to children of military parents and to single 18-year-olds who recently enlisted.
On Facebook (found via Reddit), a Casillas supporter responded to a post that had criticized Casillas’s new calling, saying:
“I’m not sure that public shaming is warranted. He has been through a long road back into good standing in the church and I can honestly say I’ve never met a more humble or penitent person at church. His wife stood by him through the ordeal and they seem genuinely happy.”
Here’s one of the responses to the Casillas supporter:
“Thanks for the message. Just to be clear, this isn’t about public shaming.
“A man with a publicly listed sexual offense conviction being called into a high-council leadership role is a safety and transparency issue, not a repentance story.
“Forgiveness doesn’t mean someone should be placed in authority over others, especially where influence over families, youth, or private interviews can occur.
“People deserve informed consent about who holds power in their congregation.
“Accountability and safety are not the opposite of compassion.”
Floodlit agrees!
Jason Pedersen: Convicted child sexual abuser becomes an elder’s quorum president
Jason Pedersen was convicted in 2017 of child sexual abuse, but was not excommunicated after conviction, “he didn’t even lose his priesthood” according to his ex-wife, who discussed her experiences and insights today:
@phoenix.untaped Floodlit.org article: https://floodlit.org/a/a971/ The LDS church needs to do more to fix this. #csaawareness #csa #sexualabuse #lds ♬ original sound – PhoenixUntaped
(channel name: PhoenixUntaped)
Transcript of an excerpt from her video:
“If you can sexually abuse a child, let alone your own child, I’m not really sure how anybody could argue that you are a safe choice as a leader to influence anybody, ever again.”
[…]“The LDS church is not the only organization that is problematic when it comes to perpetuating, allowing, or in some way creating an environment that is ripe for sexual abuse.
“However, the LDS church is unique in this in a couple of ways, and I avoid talking about it because I have loved ones and family members who still are very much involved in the church and to whom the church means a lot.
“However, I think it’s time we talk about it.“The church is unique in a couple of ways. And it makes the organization uniquely responsible for (…) a lot of the child sexual abuse that occurs within or in relation to this church. And here’s why.
“Members are taught from the very beginning that church leaders are inspired by God and that they have a special discernment so they can see things that we can’t see, in other people, in other situations, etc.
“So that […] when someone is called to be a leader […], that is supposed to be inspired by God. The problem is that we have evidence, time and time again, that that’s just not true.
“Take a look, go to floodlit.org, and take a look at the number of Church leaders who committed child sexual abuse within the realm and role of their church calling. There’s no way you can tell me that that was an inspired calling. No, I’m sorry. it was not. I don’t care what lesson that person had to learn, etc. etc. Putting those kids, those teens, those youths in danger with that person would never be inspired by a loving God. Never.
“And when those people literally committed abuse within the scope and realm of their calling, there is absolutely no way you can convince me that that was inspired by God. it wasn’t.
“And so when the members are told, trust this, and trust that leaders have this discernment and that all these callings are inspired and divine and blah blah blah, it gets very jumbled, because church members are taught to trust this. And so then when they question, they feel guilty for questioning it, and so they shove those aside.
“And it creates this culture of silence and this culture of covering up. What it does is, it creates a place where abuse continues to happen.”
“And people aren’t stopping it. And something needs to change.”
As of 2024, Pedersen was an elders quorum president in his Utah LDS ward.
Help the floodlights come on: Become aware
How can we face a problem if we don’t know it exists, or if we refuse to acknowledge that it exists?
The sexual recidivism rate for individuals convicted of child sexual abuse varies depending on the follow-up period and offender characteristics, but it is certainly not zero. It’s common to see studies find cumulative reconviction rates of 10-15% after 5 years, 20-25% after 10 years, and 30-40% after 20 years.
Keep in mind, sexual abuse is vastly underreported and underprosecuted. According to RAINN, in the United States, out of every 1,000 sexual assaults, only about 2.5% result in a criminal conviction.
Furthermore, Floodlit’s database represents only the tip of the Mormon sexual abuse iceberg; it simply shows what two reporters have found and catalogued in three years, and we don’t have access to the church’s voluminous disciplinary records … because they don’t share.
Another factor to consider: some convicted sexual abusers are not required to be listed in sex offender registries, for various reasons (e.g., first-time offender, low risk, jurisdictional differences, expiration of registration).
All that to say, just because a guy’s up on the stand in an LDS sacrament meeting, or holds a church calling, does not mean you can trust 100% that children are safe around him. It doesn’t mean he’s never been caught harming a child. It doesn’t even mean that the First Presidency hasn’t known about his crimes, approved him for rebaptism anyway, and removed an annotation from his membership record that prevented him from working with children.
We don’t know how often this happens because the Mormon church keeps its disciplinary records secret, fights relentlessly in court to protect that secrecy, and insists in court that it doesn’t even keep dedicated or organized records on sexual abuse among its members.
Here are more instances where the Mormon church gave a person a leadership position after conviction or excommunication for a sex crime:
We urgently need your support in order to be able to continue purchasing court documents, gathering information in these cases as well as maintaining our website and paying for software and services that help us find information and communicate with survivors.
Please donate if you are able! Thank you so much!
