Top Mormon leader D. Todd Christofferson knew around 2020 that his brother was an alleged child molester
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A top Mormon church leader who has said he learned in or about 2020 that his brother may have molested children many years earlier — possibly involving a congregation in the Chicago region — didn’t notify police or child welfare authorities.
With the accusers grown, Mormon leader D. Todd Christofferson “respected the adult victims’ wishes not to involve law enforcement at that time,” a spokesman for the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints told the Chicago Sun-Times recently, explaining the inaction.
But Christofferson and other church officials won’t say why the brother, Wade Christofferson, was allowed to apparently stay an active member and leader at a Latter-day Saints community in Ohio after it was known he may have abused children at some point.
Living in Dublin, Ohio, Wade Christofferson was arrested in November on child exploitation charges related to the sexual abuse of two children in Ohio and Utah over the last few years up until late 2025, court records show.
Court records indicate he’s in discussions with federal prosecutors over a potential plea agreement and wants to be released from jail pending the outcome of the criminal case so he can better attend to health problems from home.
Keith Smith, a longtime Mormon leader in Ohio, told the Sun-Times Wade Christofferson was active in the Ohio church community until last year, and while Smith knew him and his family, he had no idea of past allegations of abuse.
Smith said the congregation was informed about Wade Christofferson’s November arrest, calling it a “shock and a surprise.”
“He was released from all church responsibilities and leadership” at that time, and that “was communicated to the temple,” Smith said, describing the church’s child protection practices as “very strict.”
Read more https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2026/03/30/mormon-apostle-d-todd-christofferson-latter-day-saints-wade-christofferson-child-sexual-abuse-church
Content retrieved from: https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2026/03/30/mormon-apostle-d-todd-christofferson-latter-day-saints-wade-christofferson-child-sexual-abuse-church.
