Mormon Church: Fourth Child Sex Abuse Lawsuit Filed Against Church
The Mormon Church is facing a fourth child sex abuse lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Navajo Nation Tribal Court, alleges that the victim was sexually abused while part of the Mormon Church’s “Lamanite Placement Program.” The program is also known as the “Indian Placement Program,” and it was utilized by the Mormon Church to convert Native American children (known as Lamanites in the Mormon religion) to Mormon beliefs.
In the program, Native American children were removed from their homes and placed in the homes of Mormon Church members. According to the victim in this most recent lawsuit, the Mormon Church was made aware of the abuse he was enduring within the program, but did nothing to stop it, nor did the Mormon Church report the abuse to the proper authorities. The man who filed Tuesday’s lawsuit has only been identified in court documents as LK, and he says that the Mormon Church shouldn’t be able to get away with hiding such despicable crimes against children who were in the organization’s care.
“This can’t be swept under the rug.”
According to court documents, LK alleges that he was removed from his home on the Navajo Nation as a small child and baptized into the Mormon Church, reports Fox 13 Now. He says he was also placed with a host family active in the Mormon Church as part of the Lamanite Placement Program. LK says that this is when the sexual abuse began.
According to the plaintiff in the case, he was placed in a home chosen by the Mormon Church back in 1978. His foster family lived in Roy, Utah, just north of Salt Lake City. According to LK, the sexual abuse began almost immediately, and he reported it to officials within the Mormon Church, including his caseworker, but to no avail. He claims that he was told he had to stay in the home until the end of the school year, and he also claims that during that year he was subjected to continued and repeated sexual abuse at the hands of his Mormon foster father.
so many things are disturbing about this story
— Sam (@ovalspleen) June 7, 2016
House of devil
— obasa olayiwola (@akanbright) June 2, 2016
LK is the fourth victim to file a lawsuit against the Mormon Church in connection to sexual abuse allegedly suffered while in the Lamanite Placement Program. The other three victims who have come forward with allegations all say that they reported their abuse to the Mormon Church officials involved with their Lamanite Placement Program cases, but no action was taken to remove them from the abusive foster homes. Additionally, in none of the cases of alleged child sex abuse at the hands of trusted Mormon foster parents did the Mormon Church report the children’s abuse to law enforcement or other proper legal authorities.
According to Billy Keeler, attorney for the abuse victims, it has taken them years to work up the courage to overcome their fear and shame and come forward with their allegations against the Mormon Church.
As for LK, he says that systematic child sex abuse at the hands of a trusted adult does terrible things to your mental state.
“It’s horrible. You relive it up here. You see the person that did this. You see the silhouette, the fear, the hurt.”
The victim’s advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) spoke out against the Mormon Church at a Tuesday news conference. A SNAP spokesperson says that the Mormon Church needs to do more to stop abuse within its ranks. Further, said spokesman David Clohessy, the Mormon Church needs to be more accountable to law enforcement and other authorities by immediately reporting abuse allegations to the proper legal authorities when they are brought to light.
“Quite frankly the program, while well intentioned, had to be considered a pedophile’s dream.”
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind and works actively to prevent abuse. We have not yet seen the lawsuit and therefore cannot comment on any specifics. The Church will examine the allegations and respond appropriately.”
Allegedly, these “changes in Mormon Church policy” are too little, too late for past abuse victims who have yet to see their abusers brought to justice.
Also, as much as the Mormon Church claims to be an advocate for victims of abuse, it is steadfastly fighting the lawsuits that have been brought against it. Rather than taking steps to compensate those who were allegedly victimized and left without recourse as children in the Lamanite Placement Program, the Mormon Church is doing everything it can to ensure that justice is as unattainable for them as possible.
The #LDS Church says the sex abuse lawsuits should NOT be litigated in Navajo Nation Tribal Court. @fox13now #Utah pic.twitter.com/ebrHCtO5aZ
— Ben Winslow (@BenWinslow) June 3, 2016
The Mormon Church is currently fighting tooth and nail to keep all four child sex abuse lawsuits out of Navajo Nation courts. In court filings, Mormon Church lawyers have said that because the alleged abuse took place in the State of Utah, the lawsuits should be filed in a Utah court. Indeed, the Mormon Church has even gone so far as to file a restraining order to prevent the child sex abuse case from being heard in a Navajo Nation court.
LK’s attorney has acknowledged that the victims in the sex abuse lawsuit against the Mormon Church have a very good reason for wanting to keep their case in the Navajo Nation court system. In three words: statute of limitations.
“We would file it and it would be thrown out of court before the ink even got dry. We just cannot maintain a case here in Utah under the existing statute of limitations.”
Attorneys for the alleged victims in the Mormon Church sex abuse case have yet to respond to the restraining order request but are expected to do so soon. A federal judge should be ruling on the Mormon Church restraining order request later this year.
[Photo by George Frey/Getty Images]
