Two Cases of Child Pornography in the LDS Church Demand Attention from LDS Leaders
Two recent cases involving Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints staff and child pornography requires that LDS leadership take steps to share this information where the community where each men worked and call for victims and witnesses to come forward and make a report to police.
Although these two crimes are not directly related, with one arrest in California and another in Missouri, they share links in that each person arrested is a leader within Mormon Church and both involve pornography and an abuse of power. We applaud federal authorities for their work bringing a former LDS bishop to task and for preventing even more children from being victimized. We also applaud Mountain View, CA police for their work in arresting the LDS missionary, Hayden Hunter, who was trading in pornography. Each community is safer thanks to the work from secular law enforcement officials.
Now we call on the Mormon church to be fully transparent regarding both of these men. Child pornography is a crime with an extremely long shelf life, potentially stigmatizing the victims for life. It can also be a warning sign of child abuse. It is obvious the Mormon church needs to do more to vet and supervise its missionaries and more senior clerics.
We call on the LDS leadership to publicize the entire work histories of both men and to ask members of the church in each community where they worked to report any crimes they know about to law enforcement. The sooner that church leadership reaches out, the sooner that other potential victims can be found and current victims can heal.
CONTACT: Dan McNevin, SNAP Board Member([email protected], 415-341-6417), Melanie Sakoda, SNAP San Francisco ([email protected], 925-708-6175) Zach Hiner, Executive Director ([email protected], 517-974-9009)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Winter Appeal 2023
To our friends,
2023 has been a long year with many ups and downs for us all. As we close out the year, we at SNAP hope that you are feeling like you are on your way to being healthy, fulfilled, and happy. This past year has brought both successes and challenges. Thanks to the support you have shown in the past, we’ve been able to celebrate the good days and weather the stormy ones. Now, we are once again asking for your support as we work to support survivors new and old as we ‘Move SNAP Forward.’
At SNAP we are proud to have hosted a very well-attended conference in August 2023. This event allowed us to gather friends, survivors, advocates, and allies for a weekend of camaraderie and connection. We were so happy to be able to welcome many first-time attendees to gather in person and are already looking forward to the next conference.
To strengthen our movement for justice, healing, and prevention, SNAP will be expanding our peer support and providing more volunteer opportunities in the coming year. Through this great work, we are ensuring survivor voices are represented as we work for significant change that will benefit children and survivors.
Right now, survivors worldwide are getting the help they need from SNAP, and more and more reach out to us daily, but we need your help to keep those programs going and get our volunteers the training they need to thrive.
Your tax-deductible gift to SNAP can help offset the cost of our important mission. If you are not in a position to contribute, you can still support us by sharing this letter with those who can. As we continue to fight for survivors across the globe, your donation or sharing the great work SNAP does will help us continue our work to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, and prevent abuse.
Your donation ensures SNAP will be there for those who need us more than ever!
Warmly,
Michael W. McDonnell, C.P.S.
Interim Executive Director