Sexual Abuse

A former LDS bishop whom a top church official said committed “sexual transgression” with his own daughter was excommunicated after making a religious confession. Recordings obtained by The Associated Press show that instead of helping prosecutors, the church used a legal playbook that keeps sex abuse secret.

Cochise County Superior Court Judge Timothy Dickerson said the state’s clergy-penitent privilege excused two bishops and several other church officials from Arizona’s child sex abuse mandatory reporting law because Paul Adams initially disclosed that he was sexually abusing his daughter during a confession to his bishop.

Five women are suing the founder of an anti-child-trafficking group that inspired a popular movie this year, alleging he sexually manipulated, abused and harassed them on overseas trips designed to lure and catch child sex traffickers.

The ruling stems from a child sex abuse lawsuit filed by three children who accused the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of a conspiracy to cover up their abuse by their father, church member Paul Adams.

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.