By James King
Phoenix New Times
April 18, 2011
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/04/mormon_church_denies_prior_kno.php
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The Mormon Church claims it never knew one of its members, 49-year-old Susan Brock, the somewhat-estranged wife of Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock, was sexually abusing a teenage boy before her arrest..
This, according to court documents obtained by New Times, is a lie.
The church issued the following statement amid criticism that it knew of the relationship and didn't report it to police:
"Any allegation that Church leaders knew of abuse but did nothing is inaccurate and offensive. The Church is extremely proactive in its efforts to protect children from abuse of any kind, and works diligently to support and assist victims of abuse. When abuse does occur we work to see that it is reported to the authorities."
In reality, the Church knew of the abuse before the victim's parents were even told -- about two weeks before Brock's arrest -- and never called police.
According to court docs, the relationship was uncovered by the victim's girlfriend, who discovered sex-themed text messages between Brock and the victim on the boy's phone. The girl told her parents, who contacted Susan Brock, as well as her county supervisor husband, to tell them they knew of the abuse.
Rather than call the police, Fulton Brock called his bishop at the Mormon Church, to whom Susan Brock admitted having a sexual relationship with the boy.
When the boy's parents were told of the affair, rather than immediately call police, they also contacted their bishop in the Mormon Church.
As the father of the victim later told police, after meeting with Church leaders, he was "under the impression" cops would be called. But they weren't -- as the boy's father was waiting for Church leaders to alert authorities of the abuse of his teenage son, he figured he'd just call them on his own.
But that wasn't the first time the Mormon Church learned of suspicions that Brock was abusing the boy.
In October 2009, about a year before Susan Brock's arrest, the Brocks and the victim's parents met with leaders in the Mormon Church. The topic of conversation: suspicions that Susan Brock was having sex with the teenage victim.
If we had suspicions that a middle-aged woman was sleeping with our teenage son, our first call is going to be to police -- not our church. Call us crazy.
Nobody called police, though -- not Fulton Brock, not the boy's parents, and not the Mormon Church.
The abuse of the boy continued for a year before police were notified -- and when police were notified, it wasn't by Mormon Church officials.
So when the Mormon Church tries to say that "when abuse does occur we work to see that it is reported to the authorities," just know that, in the words of Senator Jon Kyl, it's probably "not intended to be a factual statement" -- because it's not, it's a lie.
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