LDS Church Targeted With Child Sex Abuse Lawsuit In Berkeley County, West Virginia In Relation To The Christopher Michael Jensen Case

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been targeted with a lawsuit in relation to child sex abuse in Berkeley County, West Virginia. The primary plaintiffs are 12 children who were reportedly sexually abused by a now-former LDS member, twenty-two-year old Christopher Michael Jensen, who was convicted of related crimes in criminal court. Additional plaintiffs include five Jane Does and five John Does, identified as being parents, guardians, and "next friends" of the children. Representing the plaintiffs are attorneys from the Fitzsimmons Law Firm in Wheeling, WV, Zuckerman Spaeder LLP in Washington DC, and Kosnoff Fasy PLLC in Seattle (Tim Kosnoff was also involved in the Curtis case). The primary media story is the Martinsburg Journal-News, but there is also interesting discussion on the Mormon Discussions forum.

-- Read the 66-page suit document HERE

Named as defendants are the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the church; Don Fishel, who was the bishop of the Hedgesville Ward for the Martinsburg stake of the church between 2007 and 2013 and who also served as a member of the Stake High Council for Martinsburg; Steven Grow, stake president in Martinsburg; Jensen, who was a member and elder of the Hedgesville Ward of the church; Jensen's father, a high priest and member of the Stake High Council for Martinsburg between 2007 and 2010; and Jensen's mother, a member of the Hedgesville Ward and Relief Society president for the church in Martinsburg between 2006 and 2009. The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages; attorneys for the plaintiffs maintain that the Church initially tried to cover up the abuse, then reacted too slowly to mitigate it.

Summary of Events: The abuse of the 12 children suing the Church began in 2008. However, there were allegations that Christopher Michael Jensen may have abused additional children as early as 2006. These early allegations were allegedly communicated to Jensen's parents and to local Church leaders; in 2007, the Martinsburg Stake High Council, whose members included Steven Grow, Don Fishel and Jensen's father, held a meeting also attended by Jensen's mother, during which the alleged sexual abuse of two children by Christopher Michael Jensen was allegedly discussed. However, Fishel denied the allegations as hearsay, and so the High Council failed to report the allegations of abuse to authorities as required by law. Local church leaders allegedly continued to portray Jensen as a church member who could provide leadership and counsel to young church members, and even recommended Jensen as a babysitter for church families.

The first of the plaintiffs came forward in early 2008, when a then four-year-old boy told Jensen's mother that Jensen had sexually abused him. Fishel, who was also allegedly already put on notice that Jensen had been accused of sexually abusing children, was told by the mother of another alleged victim that Jensen had abused her younger son. The suit alleges that instead of reporting the abuse to authorities or taking action to warn or protect other children, the Church, through its agents, actively covered up the abuse and assisted Jensen in committing further acts by enabling him to babysit for and live with other church families with young children. The pattern allegedly continued for more than five years until Jensen was indicted in October 2012 in Berkeley County. On February 6th, 2013, Jensen was found guilty of one count of first-degree sexual assault and two counts of sexual abuse, and subsequently sentenced to 35 to 75 years in prison on July 29th. The judge also ordered that Jensen register for life as a convicted sex offender and that he be placed on 50 years of supervised release upon his release from prison. He was found not guilty of one count of first-degree sexual assault involving the youngest boy. On August 18th, the Martinsburg Stake High Council formally excommunicated Jensen.

On a related note, a February 2013 story from the Herald-Mail reveals that sexual abuse and assault charges were also filed against Jensen for allegedly assaulting a 20-year-old woman in a church parking lot in September 2012, and were pending in Berkeley County Magistrate Court at the time. However, in light of the child abuse conviction, prosecutors chose not to pursue the charges, and on March 15th, a Berkeley County magistrate granted the state's motion to discontinue the case.

The suit also alleges that emissaries from Salt Lake City instructed witnesses not to talk with attorneys representing the children suing the church, and that church leaders tried to intimidate the families of the children suing the church by trying to convince them to abandon their claims "lest they run afoul of church teachings regarding forgiveness".

Update October 30th: WHAG Channel 4 picked up the story and published reaction from local LDS leaders:

Church officials released a statement saying that they deny any allegations of a cover up. They felt they were instrumental in reporting the matter to local law enforcement officials, while imposing church discipline on the perpetrator and helping out the victims families.

Prognosis: The LDS Church has a track record of settling these types of suits out of court. The motivation to settle will be strong here, since it appears that local Church leaders were quite reluctant to take action against Jensen initially. While the presumption of innocence is sacred, if state law requires religious leaders to report such allegations to law enforcement, then they must report it. The plaintiffs have also retained some impressive legal muscle to represent them.

The behavior of local Church leaders in this case insufficiently reflect the LDS Church's commitment to resolving child abuse when it occurs and deterring future occurrences. In this statement published a while back, the Church set forth their policy:

Simply put, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to child abusers. When abuse is suspected, the Church directs its members to first contact the legal authorities and then their local bishop for counseling and support. The Church cooperates fully with law enforcement in investigating incidents of child abuse and bringing perpetrators to justice.

Members of the Church found guilty of child abuse are also subject to the laws of God. President Hinckley has said: "Our hearts reach out to the offender, but we cannot tolerate the sin of which he may be guilty. Where there has been offense, there is a penalty." Convicted child abusers are excommunicated, the highest possible discipline our faith can impose. Excommunicated members cannot take part in Church meetings or hold responsibilities of any kind within the congregation.

Can child abusers who have paid the legal price for their crimes and gone through a rigorous repentance process with local Church leaders become members of the Church again? Yes. As Christians, we believe in forgiveness. But can they ever again, in their lifetime, serve in any capacity that would put them in direct contact with children? Absolutely not. Forgiveness does not remove the consequences of sin. Protection of the family is a first principle of the Church.

Since 1995 the Church has placed a confidential annotation on the membership record of members who previously abused children. These records follow them to any congregation where they move, thereby alerting bishops not to place them in situations with children. As far as we know, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the first religious institution to create such a tracking mechanism. We hold the family sacred and protect its children. This explains why the Church is one of the few denominations that imposes formal ecclesiastical discipline on mere members (as opposed to official clergy) for sexually abusive conduct.

Former LDS Missionary Caleb Daniel Lowe Accused Of Sexual Display Solicitation Of A 13-Year-Old Girl While Serving In Lincoln, Maine

A former missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been accused of sexual display solicitation which occurred while he was still assigned to the mission field in Lincoln, Maine. Although WGAN and the Bangor Daily News do not specifically mention "former", the charges have been filed against him in his hometown of Springfield, Oregon, so it is reasonable to assume he's no longer on his mission.

Twenty-two year old Caleb Daniel Lowe was serving his mission in Lincoln when he met the 13-year-old girl while staying with her family as part of his mission. It was not reported whether or not he actually solicited the girl while on his mission. What is clear is that Lowe began texting the girl in September and continued until early November, sending many sexually suggestive messages, a nude photograph of himself, and requests that she send him a nude photo in return. The case first broke when the girl’s mother saw a nude photograph of Lowe and the suggestive texts while examining her daughter's cell phone. [Note to parents: This is why you want to check your teen's cell phone periodically if it has photo and text capability -- as an additional form of protection.]

The girl's mother contacted police in Lincoln. Since Lowe was back in Oregon by this time, Lincoln police contacted Springfield police, who confronted Lowe with the accusations. After Lowe agreed to show police his cell phone, investigators found a matching nude photo of Lowe and many of the sexually suggestive texts he sent. He was arrested on November 8th and charged attempting to use a child in a sexual display. He is currently in jail.

Under Oregon law, Lowe cannot be charged for sending the nude photograph or for making sexual remarks, but only for suggesting that the girl send him the photograph. Nevertheless, if he's convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and mandatory registration as a sex offender in Oregon.

This is why missionaries are assigned companions and the companions must remain within sight and sound of each other. Of course, if Lowe did all this stuff after he returned from his mission, that would not matter. Returned missionaries are urged to find a wife and enter into eternal marriage, but this is not the way the Church recommends it be done. He will face a disciplinary council if he is convicted.

Idaho's Clergy Privilege Law May Have Delayed Bringing Former LDS Boise Police Officer Stephen Young To Justice For Child Molestation

A former Boise police officer who was also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made the news on December 13th, 2010. Specifically, media outlets are questioning whether or not several LDS members might have attempted to cover it up; McClatchyDC has published the primary story under the provocative and inflammatory title of "Did fellow Mormons cover up officer's baby molestations?" But when you read the story, you'll find that Idaho's clergy privilege laws may have delayed bringing the man to justice.

The man in question is Stephen R. Young, a former member of the Boise Police Department and now a former member of the LDS Church. According to KHQ Channel 6 and the Spokane Spokesman-Review, Young first confessed to church officials in January 2010; they urged him to turn himself in. Young then turned himself on March 2nd, 2010, two days after abruptly retiring from the police department, after confessing to child molestation to a fellow church member who was also a Boise police officer, who in turn was duty-bound to report the crimes. Young ultimately admitted to molesting four children, ages 1 month to 21 months, between 2005 and 2008. He initially was charged with four counts of lewd conduct with a minor but later pleaded guilty to one count of sexual battery of a child. In June 2010, Young pleaded guilty in 4th District Court to one count of sexual battery of a minor child 16 to 17 years of age and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

However, media sources state that at least 15 other church members knew about this for several months but failed to report it to authorities. They investigated the 15 members and found them to be covered by Idaho's clergy privilege laws, so they're off the hook. KTVB Channel 7 news video embedded below:



There are two clergy privilege laws which appear to discourage church leaders from reporting a confession of child molestation or abuse to authorities (unless, of course, they personally witness it):

-- Idaho Code 16-1605, a state law modified in 1995 to include language that says a “duly ordained minister of religion, who has been ordained or set apart ... to hear confessions and confidential communications” doesn’t have to report suspected abuse to law enforcement — even if potential victims are in danger. The phrase “set apart” covers members of the High Council and other lay LDS leaders.

-- Idaho Code 9-203 and criminal rule of evidence 505 govern confidential communication. If a clergy member, against an individual’s wishes, reports something confessed privately, the clergy would be violating the law and could be sued.

From this account, we can deduce who the 15 LDS members might have been; the bishop, the three-person stake presidency, and 11 of the 12 members of the stake high council. All are "set apart" for their positions, thus all can be considered covered under Idaho's clergy privilege laws. The stake presidency and high council probably got involved during the disciplinary court which led to Young's excommunication from the Church. Young's bishop denies allegations that he made calls to keep Young out of jail; the bishop said he had no recollection of making any phone calls on Young’s behalf or making any attempt to keep him from reporting the abuse.

The 12th high council member was Kyle Christenson, the police officer to whom Stephen Young confessed on March 2nd, 2010; Christenson was asked not to be involved in the disciplinary court because it would create an irrevocable conflict between his clergy privilege and the fact that he was bound by duty to report crimes.

Since this post was published, KTVB Channel 7 has posted this official statement from the LDS Church:

"The Church made sure Mr. Young was removed from his home, and it took additional measures to protect known victims. There was also a clear understanding between Mr. Young and Church leaders that his actions needed to be reported to the police. Church leaders did all they could while complying with Idaho law that protects Mr. Young's confession to clergy and also avoiding any actions that might compromise the eventual investigation of Mr. Young's crimes.”

LDS Church doctrine encourages anyone who knows about child abuse to report it. If that knowledge is acquired by a member of the clergy, the church official counsels the guilty person to tell police the truth. The LDS Church also has a Family Services hotline staffed 24 hours a day by licensed clinical social workers, who can give guidance and advice to people who commit crimes, victims, other family members, or church officials who hear about any form of child abuse. The phone calls also include legal advice — such as what the reporting laws are in the states where the abuse occurred in. The hotline is especially important since officials like bishops or stake presidents are volunteers and may not have specific training on how to deal with legal reporting requirements or how to counsel victims of crimes.

Those who believe this situation should have been handled more expeditiously should advocate for changes to the Idaho clergy privilege law to immunize church leaders against civil suits for reporting crimes to authorities rather than accuse Church members of "covering up".

Anchorage LDS Mom Jessica Beagley Appears On Dr. Phil's "Mommy Confessions" To Discuss "Hot Sauce" Child Discipline, Accused Of Child Abuse

-- NOTE: All posts on this case available HERE, with the most recent post appearing first. Beagley was convicted of misdemeanor child abuse on August 23rd, 2011.

An Anchorage, Alaska woman identified as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently appeared on Dr. Phil's program, where her child discipline techniques were discussed. As a result, she has been characterized as a "child abuser". Primary media story published by the Anchorage Press; supplemental story in the Anchorage Daily News. Additional sources of information include the Recovery from Mormonism (RFM) forum and Free Republic. This post is intended to assemble and consolidate all the disparate information from the various sources.

The woman is identified as Jessica Beagley, married to Gary Beagley, an Anchorage patrol officer who was once a detective (there's no indication he was "flopped back into the bag" for disciplinary reasons; APD actually proposes to flop a few more detectives to cope with budgetary constraints). They have six children; one of them, a seven-year-old boy, is a Russian adoptee. They are identified as members of the LDS Church; reference is made to a group photo of the family posing outside the LDS temple in Bountiful, Utah. According to RFM, Jessica was recently the stake-level Primary president.

The controversy came to a head during a November 17th episode of the Dr. Phil showed called “Mommy Confessions”. One of Bagley's other kids shot a video of Jennifer disciplining her seven-year-old Russian adoptee son, Kristoff. On the video, Jessica is observed to be verbally reproving Kristoff for having received three discipline cards in elementary school for throwing pencils, sword-fighting with another child, and acting out in another class, and then lying to Jessica about the in-school discipline. While the name of the school is not revealed, Anchorage School District records indicate both the Beagleys have volunteered at Turnagain Elementary School.

Jessica seems to be much more troubled about the lying than the infraction itself. Although assertive, she's not particularly aggressive. Then she has Kristoff drink a small portion of hot sauce. She then continues to reprove him, then allows him to spit out the hot sauce. Then she directs him to take a cold shower; he can be heard crying while showering. While the video cannot be embedded, you can view it HERE, and read the transcript HERE.

I have now found a YouTube version:



Gary Beagley was also on the show, and he said a friend of his wife gave them the idea for the hot sauce. He credits his Department of Defense training for the cold shower technique, saying “In the military, we use cold showers for discipline, to get people’s attention”. Of course, there's one problem with this analogy -- there aren't too many seven-year-old boys in the military.

The audience reacted in a hostile fashion, with one person calling Jessica "evil". In response, Dr. Phil said, "I don’t believe you’re an evil person. I think you are misguided. I think you think you’re doing the only thing you know how to do, but that is totally unacceptable.” The couple believes the child to have reactive attachment disorder; they note that Kristoff's twin brother causes no problems. A comment by Therese posted to the Press story indicates that three of the Beagley's children are Russian adoptees; they ought to be commended for at least opening their home to so many unwanted children.

The Beagley family has chosen not to respond to media requests to tell their side of the story. Furthermore, they have "privatized" their blog; it's now available only to invited readers, although a cached version is still viewable. There seems to be a rush to judgment on the Beagley couple; while disciplinarians, they don't seem to be abusers. Washing a kid's mouth out with hot sauce is preferable to washing his mouth out with soap; at least hot sauce can be consumed without ill effects. The cold shower routine seems excessive, though.

Furthermore, while Dr. Phil does appear to direct his guests towards competent therapists and other providers, he's in it for the ratings. He's basically just a higher-class version of Montel Williams and Maury Povich. Dr. Phil was discovered by Oprah Winfrey, who turned him into a cult hero. Contrary to popular rumor, Dr. Phil was never married to Oprah.

Members of the LDS Church can get help with family issues through LDS Family Services; specific help with adopted children available HERE. It is unlikely the Beagleys would face Church discipline over this issue other than probation.