Two Families Sue LDS Church Over Alleged Sexual Abuse of Children at Seattle Site

Two families have filed a lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), alleging that the church knowingly allowed a high priest with prior convictions for child sexual abuse to keep access to children in Seattle. The families say their children, then aged 4 and 5, were sexually abused by the high priest in the 1980s. KIRO 7 reported that it is not naming the high priest because some of his victims were family members, and that naming him could identify them.

According to the suit, the church knew of the danger the high priest posed to children as early as 1984 but still allowed him to lead and have access to children at the church and at a daycare run by the LDS. The suit says he often placed young girls on his lap without a clear reason, and that one parent saw him touching a girl inappropriately while she was seated there.

The suit states that one girl was 5 years old when the high priest abused her, and that she reported the abuse to her mother two years later. The mother met with a bishop and the high priest. The suit says the high priest downplayed the concerns, although he admitted to the mother that he had previously been involved in known incidents of child sexual assault. After that meeting, the mother told other mothers in the congregation, some of whom said they had similar concerns. The suit also describes another woman who came forward saying her 4-year-old had been assaulted by the high priest in 1983. The concerns were escalated to the chapter president, who, according to the suit, told the bishop to tell the congregation that the high priest had been excommunicated.

The suit also recounts the high priest’s criminal history. In March 1987, he pleaded guilty to two counts of statutory rape. Several months later, in September, Seattle police investigated him again for sexual abuse of minors. That investigation involved abuse on church property and was reported by two minor church members, including the first victim. In 1988, he pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent liberties for sexual abuse that occurred on LDS property. These convictions and pleas are part of the record the suit describes.

The suit’s plaintiffs are asking the court for monetary relief, including special and general damages to be established at trial, as well as costs, reasonable attorney fees, statutory interest, pre-judgment interest on special damages, and any other relief the court considers just and proper. The suit’s central allegation, as the filing states, is that the defendants “failed to take reasonable steps to protect Plaintiffs from the danger of being sexually abused” by the high priest, a charge that calls for the protection of children (Psalm 82:3). The allegations have not been proven in court, and the source does not report a response from the church.

Source: Read the original report