Sexual Abuse

On March 12, 2003, Elizabeth Smart was discovered in Sandy, Utah with her kidnappers. She now uses her own pain to help other sexual violence victims.

Seventy-eight-year-old Carl Matthew Johnson was sentenced Thursday on four counts of sexual abuse of a child stemming from his plea deal in January. The judge gave him nine years to life for three first-degree felonies and one to 15 years for a second-degree felony, all to run consecutively.

Behind-the-scenes conversations between legislative leaders and what Senate President Stuart Adams said was “a broad base of religious groups” helped thwart four separate proposals to add clergy to the list of professionals required to report child sexual abuse.

The details of Samuel Bateman's life were alleged in an FBI affidavit released last Friday. Bateman faces state and federal charges of child abuse and tampering with evidence.

An Associated Press review finds that over the past two decades, more than 130 bills have been proposed in state legislatures to create or amend child sex abuse reporting laws. After intense opposition from religious groups, the clergy privilege remained unchanged.

Investigators say Carl Matthew Johnson acknowledged the abuse. They say he was in a position of trust over the victims but aren't saying if the alleged abuse occurred while he was a bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Records from a log of calls fielded by a law firm representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a church official deposition show that Republican State Rep. Merrill F. Nelson took the initial call from a bishop reporting that church member Paul Adams had sexually abused his daughters.

The ruling says the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may not use the state's “clergy-penitent privilege” to refuse to answer questions or turn over documents in a child sex abuse case.

The Associated Press has obtained nearly 12,000 pages of sealed records from a child sex abuse lawsuit against the Mormon church.

Many sexual assault survivors in Utah face not just the trauma of the attack, but also a culture that places the blame on their shoulders. The Dove Center in St. George is trying to change that.

Inappropriate contact between children and staff members has happened with some frequency in Utah’s teen treatment programs. From November 2018 through July 2021 — state regulators have investigated at least 20 reports of staff pushing the boundaries with clients, sometimes amounting to sexual abuse.

Local Boy Scout councils in Utah will remain insulated from a rash of sex assault accusations and possible bankruptcy from settlements aimed at the…