Trial Date Set for Duchesne LDS Church Bishop in Failure-to-report Case

By Aaron Falk
Salt Lake Tribune
February 23, 2012

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53578240-78/girl-moon-police-report.html.csp

A June trial date has been set for a Mormon bishop accused of failing to report allegations of child abuse after meeting with a girl in his Duchesne congregation.

Gordon Lamont Moon, 43, will stand trial June 1 on a third-degree felony count of tampering with a witness and a class B misdemeanor of failure to report child abuse.

According to a court document, the 17-year-old girl was sexually abused by a younger teen in July. The girl’s father later asked Moon to speak with the girl.

"[Moon] said that I need to think about what [the teen boy] is going through, and I don’t need to start telling the cops or anything because he’s already going to have to go through a bunch of repentance and all that stuff," the girl later told police, according to court documents.

Prosecutors have said Moon was charged because he was the only person who attempted to stop the girl from talking to police. Moon’s attorney, David Leavitt, has said police had already been contacted by the time Moon met with the girl.

Leavitt has said police and prosecutors "view an LDS bishop as having a higher responsibility" to report allegations of abuse than others.

Contact: afalk@sltrib.com