Mormon church rocked by child sexual abuse allegations in California
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in the US has been rocked by a slew of sexual abuse allegations launched against it in California in the latest scandal to hit the organization that is better known as the Mormon church.
A three-year look-back legal window that allows adult survivors of sexual assault to file claims in California has produced almost 100 allegations of childhood sexual abuse by Mormon leaders.
The claims, in keeping with similar allegations against the Catholic church, the Church of Scientology, the Boy Scouts of America and other hierarchical institutions in the US, have a consistent theme: alleging that officials used their power to groom, manipulate and abuse children, and that senior leaders of the institution that either knew or should have known about the abuse did not act to halt it.
In the most recent claims against the Utah-based church, five plaintiffs allege they were abused in San Diego county, including three who say they were sexually assaulted by the top spiritual leaders of their congregations.
Several allege they disclosed the abuse to other church leaders. A female plaintiff alleged that the leaders “acted to protect” the abusers and the church “handled the repeated allegations internally as a ‘matter of sin’ and not one leader reported any matter to police”.
A woman from Escondido alleged that she was sexually assaulted from 1961 to at least 1978 by two male family members, including a bishop and a “home teacher” assigned to deliver spiritual lessons.
Content retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/08/mormon-church-child-sex-abuse-allegations-california.
