Latter Days Saints
mickeyrat
Posts: 38,548
Here's another church covering up abuse of children within.....
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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Seven years of sex abuse: How Mormon officials let it happen
BISBEE, Ariz. (AP) — MJ was a tiny, black-haired girl, just 5 years old, when her father admitted to his bishop that he was sexually abusing her.
The father, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and an admitted pornography addict, was in counseling with his bishop when he revealed the abuse. The bishop, who was also a family physician, followed church policy and called what church officials have dubbed the “help line” for guidance.
But the call offered little help for MJ. Lawyers for the church, widely known as the Mormon church, who staff the help line around the clock told Bishop John Herrod not to call police or child welfare officials. Instead he kept the abuse secret.
“They said, ‘You absolutely can do nothing,’” Herrod said in a recorded interview with law enforcement.
Herrod continued to counsel MJ’s father, Paul Douglas Adams, for another year, and brought in Adams’ wife, Leizza Adams, in hopes she would do something to protect the children. She didn’t. Herrod later told a second bishop, who also kept the matter secret after consulting with church officials who maintain that the bishops were excused from reporting the abuse to police under the state’s so-called clergy-penitent privilege.
Adams continued raping MJ for as many as seven more years, into her adolescence, and also abused her infant sister, who was born during that time. He frequently recorded the abuse on video and posted the video on the internet.
Adams was finally arrested by Homeland Security agents in 2017 with no help from the church, after law enforcement officials in New Zealand discovered one of the videos. He died by suicide in custody before he could stand trial.
The Associated Press has obtained nearly 12,000 pages of sealed records from an unrelated child sex abuse lawsuit against the Mormon church in West Virginia. The documents offer the most detailed and comprehensive look yet at the so-called help line Herrod called. Families of survivors who filed the lawsuit said they show it’s part of a system that can easily be misused by church leaders to divert abuse accusations away from law enforcement and instead to church attorneys who may bury the problem, leaving victims in harm’s way.
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
When an Arizona bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church, learned that a member of his ward was sexually assaulting his 5-year-old daughter, he followed church policy and called the Mormon Abuse Help Line.
The bishop later told law enforcement that church attorneys in Salt Lake City who staff the help line around the clock said that because he learned of the abuse during a counseling session the church considers a spiritual confession, he was legally bound to keep the abuse secret.
Paul Douglas Adams, a U.S. Border Patrol employee living with his wife and six children in Bisbee, Arizona, continued abusing his daughter for as many as seven more years, and went on to abuse a second daughter. He finally stopped in 2017 with no help from the church only because he was arrested.
The Associated Press obtained thousands of pages of sealed court documents that show in detail exactly how the church’s “help line” can divert abuse complaints away from law enforcement, leaving children in danger.
Takeaways from the AP’s investigation:
THE CLERGY-PENITENT PRIVILEGE
The seven years of secrecy in the Adams case began when church attorneys in Salt Lake City advised Bishop John Herrod and later Bishop Robert “Kim” Mauzy they were exempt from reporting requirements under the state’s child abuse reporting law because of the law’s so-called clergy-penitent privilege.
“You absolutely can do nothing,” Herrod said he was told during an interview with federal investigators.
Arizona’s child sex abuse reporting law, and similar laws in more than 20 states, says clergy, physicians, nurses, or anyone caring for a child who “reasonably believes” the child has been abused or neglected has a legal obligation to report the information to police or the state Department of Child Safety. But it also says that clergy who receive information about child neglect or sexual abuse during spiritual confessions “may withhold” that information from authorities if the clergy determine it is “reasonable and necessary” under church doctrine.
An Arizona attorney who is defending the bishops and the church in a lawsuit filed by three of the Adams children, told the AP that Herrod and Mauzy — and by extension the church — were acting within the law and in accordance with their “religious principles.”
“These bishops did nothing wrong. They didn’t violate the law, and therefore they can’t be held liable,” said William Maledon. He also called the Adams children’s lawsuit “a money grab.”
continues....
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
We get stories of abuse about the Hasids and orhodox Jews here from time to time but they are so private like the Mormon and Scientologists that these stories are few and far between. They police and deal with matters among themselves and that is what makes it hard to discover these things.
it just so happens these cultures are usually within the confines of religion/ created by the religion
www.headstonesband.com
A Utah lawmaker and prominent attorney for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints advised a church bishop not to report a confession of child sex abuse to authorities, a decision that allowed the abuse to continue for years, according to records filed in a lawsuit.
The records — two pages from a log of calls fielded by a law firm representing the church and the deposition of a church official — show that Utah Republican State Rep. Merrill F. Nelson took the initial call from a bishop reporting that church member Paul Adams had sexually abused his daughters. Nelson also had multiple conversations over a two-year span with two bishops who knew of the abuse, the records show.
Nelson is a conservative lawmaker who was elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 2013 and announced his retirement earlier this year. He was also a lawyer with the Salt Lake City firm Kiron McConkie, which represents the church. He earned his undergraduate and law degree from church-owned Brigham Young University.
A transcript of the deposition and excerpts of the call log were attached to a legal filing in the Arizona Court of Appeals made by lawyers for the plaintiffs. Three of Adams’s children are battling the church, widely known as the Mormon church, for access to records the church insists are confidential. The church took the case to the Court of Appeals after a Cochise County judge ruled in favor of the victims.
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According to the plaintiff’s legal filing, Nelson advised Bishop John Herrod not to report the abuse and told him “that he could be sued if he reported, and the instruction by counsel not to report Paul to the authorities was the law in Arizona and had nothing to do with Church doctrine.” But Arizona’s child sex abuse reporting law grants blanket legal immunity to anyone reporting child sex abuse or neglect.
The AP reported in August that Adams confessed to Herrod in 2010 that he sexually abused his daughter, identified as MJ.
The church’s lawyers have said Herrod, and later bishop Robert “Kim” Mauzy, legally withheld information about MJ’s abuse under the state’s clergy-penitent privilege. Arizona law generally requires clergy members to report child neglect and sexual abuse but allows them to withhold information obtained during a spiritual confession.
The log of calls filed in the Arizona Court of Appeals shows that Nelson spoke with Herrod and Mauzy multiple times from November of 2011 to February of 2014, a period during which Adams was excommunicated. Mauzy presided over a 2013 church disciplinary process after which Adams was expelled.
Although the log doesn’t detail the subject of those communications, Roger Van Komen, manager of the church’s southeast region family services department, said in a deposition also included with the filing that Nelson discussed the case with Herrod.
The 2021 lawsuit alleges the church conspired to cover up Adam’s sexual crimes. The one-time U.S. Border Patrol employee repeatedly raped M.J. and eventually her younger sister at their Arizona home over a period of seven years and posted videos of the abuse on the Internet.
During an interview with the AP before the new court records were filed, Nelson defended the church’s actions in the Adams case and the clergy-penitent privilege. He said the church “abuse help line” that Herrod had called for advice was designed to protect children.
“I don’t have all the facts, but it seems to me like it did operate as intended,” he said. “The bishop called the help line and was advised no duty to report it to civil authorities. In fact, could not report because of the clergy privilege,” Nelson said.
“It is intended and always has from the beginning been intended to to help victims get the help they need through social services, professional counseling, medical help, legal help, law enforcement,” Nelson said.
Contacted after the new records were made public, Nelson declined further comment and asked that his previous comments be off the record. “I offer no comment on specific cases,” he said.
A spokesman for the church declined to comment on the plaintiff's filing.
The church established the help line in 1995 and requires bishops and other church leaders to call it before deciding whether to report the abuse to police or child welfare officials.
According to church documents, those answering the help line refer callers to church attorneys with Kirton McConkie if the allegations of abuse are serious. The attorneys then decide whether the callers should report the abuse.
Nelson, who was a shareholder at Kirton McConkie, took Herrod’s first call to the help line reporting Adams’s abuse, according to Van Komen’s deposition. Nelson told The AP he retired from the firm, though he remains listed on its website as a member of its First Amendment and Religious Organizations section.
The AP investigation published in August found that the help line is part of a system that can easily be misused by church leaders to divert abuse accusations away from law enforcement and instead to church attorneys who may bury the problem, leaving victims in harm’s way.
The AP’s findings were based in part on 12,000 pages of sealed records in an unrelated child abuse suit against the church filed in West Virginia. Many of the documents describe the operation of the help line, which includes destroying all records at the end of each day
The sealed records included a list of questions that those answering the help line were to ask before referring calls to Kirton McConkie attorneys. The so-called “protocol” listed the names of several Kirton McConkie attorneys and their phone numbers, including Nelson’s.
Until now, the church has said that all communications between Herrod and Mauzy and church attorneys are confidential under the attorney-client privilege. But the newly filed log provides some details of Nelson’s conversations with the two bishops.
For instance, the log shows that Nelson wrote an “initial case summary” on Nov. 7, 2011 “based on a conversation” with Herrod. The log also notes a “description of legal advice,” and notes additional communications with the bishop.
Federal officials arrested Adams in 2017, four years after he was excommunicated, finally stopping the abuse of MJ and her sister, with no help from the church.
Adams died by suicide in custody before he could stand trial. His wife, Leizza Adams, served more than two years in state prison on child sex abuse charges. Three of their six children, including a boy who was allegedly abused, filed the lawsuit accusing the church of negligence for not reporting their abuse, and for engaging in a wider conspiracy to cover up child sex abuse.
Attorneys for the three children declined to comment on the log and their most recent court filing. In their 2021 lawsuit they referred to Kirton McConkie while accusing the church of directing a system designed to protect the church against potentially costly sexual abuse lawsuits.
“The Mormon Church implements the Helpline not for the protection and spiritual counseling of sexual abuse victims, as professed in Mormon church doctrine and literature, but for Kirton McConkie attorneys to snuff out complaints and protect the Mormon church from costly lawsuits,” the lawsuit says.
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Follow Michael Rezendes and Jason Dearen on Twitter at @MikeRezendes and @jhdearen. Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Three children who were sexually abused by their father are accusing a Utah state legislator and a prominent Salt Lake City law firm of conspiring with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to cover up the abuse, allowing it to go on for years.
In a court filing in Cochise County, Arizona, made public Wednesday, the children of the late Paul Adams asked a judge for permission to add Republican state Rep. Merrill F. Nelson and law firm Kirton McConkie as defendants in their lawsuit against the church, widely known as the Mormon church.
The suit accuses the Mormon church of failing to notify police or child welfare officials that Adams was abusing his older daughter.
In 2010, Adams confessed to his bishop, John Herrod, that he had sexually abused his daughter, according to legal records. Herrod reported the abuse to a church “abuse help line” and was advised not to report it to police or child welfare officials. The abuse was kept secret, and Adams continued raping his older daughter and her younger sister for several years. Adams was later charged by federal officials with posting videos of the abuse on the Internet.
Herrod’s decision not to report came after speaking with Nelson, according to church records included as evidence in the case. Nelson was a shareholder at Kirton McConkie, which has more than 160 attorneys, according to its website. Nelson was one of several lawyers at the firm who routinely fielded calls made by bishops to the help line.
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In their legal filing, the Adams children -– two daughters and a son —- say new evidence from the church “has revealed an ever-increasing group who knew about criminal misconduct in the Adams family but never reported it to the police.”
For instance, Kirton McConkie attorney Peter Schofield was also consulted in the Adams case, according to new pretrial testimony that was reviewed by The Associated Press. Like Nelson, Schofield has been associated with the help line for many years, according to legal documents, and is currently one of the lawyers defending the church in the Adamses' suit.
Lawyers for the three Adams children said they had no additional comment on their latest legal filing. A spokesman for the church declined to comment.
Nelson, who recently announced his retirement from the Legislature, did not immediately return a message seeking comment from the AP. He has defended the church’s use of the help line in the Adams case. During an AP interview in September, Nelson said, “it seems to me like it did operate as intended.” The veteran legislator’s remarks came before it was reported that Nelson had fielded the call from Herrod about the abuse.
Kirton McConkie, in an emailed statement, said it disagreed with the allegations and characterizations in the court filing. “As a former help line attorney has publicly attested, our team members are dedicated to rescuing children, assisting victims, and helping others comply with the law,” the statement said. Schofield had no immediate comment.
In a recorded interview with Department of Homeland Security agents, Herrod said he called the help line and was told that Arizona law barred him from reporting Adams’ abuse, leaving him with the impression he could be sued if he did. But Arizona’s child-sex-abuse reporting law provides blanket civil and criminal immunity to anyone reporting information about child sex abuse to civil authorities.
In August, the AP reported that Adams told Herrod he sexually abused his older daughter, identified as MJ, in 2010. Church lawyers have said that Herrod, and later another bishop, Robert “Kim” Mauzy, legally withheld information about MJ’s abuse from law enforcement under the state’s “clergy-penitent privilege.”
Although Arizona law requires clergy and other professionals to report child sex abuse and neglect, it permits clergy to withhold the information if it is obtained during a spiritual confession. Arizona is one of 33 states that maintain the clergy-penitent privilege loophole, which exempts clergy of all denominations from the requirement to report child abuse if they learn about the crime in a confessional setting.
The AP's investigation in August revealed a system, centered on the help line, for screening all accusations of child sex abuse within the church before reporting the information to civil authorities.
This included a policy of destroying all records of calls to the help line at the end of each day, according to the AP’s findings. Meanwhile, all calls referring to serious instances of abuse, including those involving bishops or abuse on church property, are immediately referred to lawyers with Kirton McConkie, which insists the calls are confidential and out of reach of law enforcement under the attorney-client privilege.
In their court filing, lawyers for the three Adams children argue that the church requirement that bishops call the help line before notifying law enforcement regarding child sexual abuse reports runs counter to Arizona law, which requires clergy and other professions to “immediately report” any information about child sex abuse to police or child welfare officials.
William Maledon, a lawyer representing the church in the Arizona suit, argues that the word “immediately” in the law is open to interpretation. “Who knows what ‘immediately’ means in that context?” he asked during a July AP interview. “You can make the argument that it means as soon as you determine that you have an obligation to report. That’s the way I would interpret it, and I think the way any good lawyer would interpret it.”
In addition to Nelson and Kirton McConkie, lawyers for the Adams children are seeking permission to add as additional co-conspirators Paul Adams’ then-wife, Leizza Adams, and “LDS Family Services,” a separate corporation affiliated with the church. In sworn legal statements, church officials have said calls to the help line are answered by social workers with LDS Family Services. Under Utah’s child sex abuse reporting law, social workers are required to report information about actual or suspected child sex abuse to civil authorities, according to the new filing.
Church lawyers say that in the Adams case, all calls to the help line that were made by Herrod and Mauzy were taken by Kirton McConkie attorneys. “All of those were with attorneys or para-professionals,” Maledon said in the July interview. “None of them in this case were with anyone other than an attorney or attorney staff.”
Paul Adams died by suicide while in custody in 2017, after being arrested by Homeland Security agents. Leizza Adams served more than two years in state prison on child sex abuse charges. Three of their six children were taken in by members of Leizza Adams’ extended family. The remaining three were adopted by Arizona families and have filed suit against the church.
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Follow Jason Dearen and Michael Rezendes on Twitter at @JHDearen and @MikeRezendes. Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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