MODESTO (CA)
Modesto Bee [Modesto, CA]
April 7, 2025
By Trevor Morgan
Nearly 100 California sexual abuse lawsuits were filed in tandem against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — widely known as the Mormon Church — last year, and one of them involves Modesto, according to documents obtained by The Bee.
While the Modesto case is decades old, it was filed alongside 91 cases from 26 counties across the state, including Sacramento, San Joaquin, Fresno and San Luis Obispo. The complaints detail sexual abuse with various power dynamics throughout several decades.
The case filed in Stanislaus County details the story of one victim who alleges abuse from two people in two cities: Hayward and, later, Modesto.
The alleged abuse at the Modesto church took place in the early 1990s and involved a victim and an alleged abuser of similar age. The alleged perpetrator in Modesto was the son of an area bishop, according to a civil complaint. Both alleged abusers and the one victim in the case are anonymous in the complaint.
The alleged abuse started in Hayward
The Stanislaus County case alleges that a young member of the LDS church — now in her 40s — was groomed, molested and raped from age 6 to 12 in two of the church’s locations. The complaint, like the other 91 filings, also alleges a cover-up reinforced by the structure of the church.
The plaintiff, referred to as Jane Doe in the complaint, asserts that abuse first began at the church’s Hayward location around 1989. As a 6-year-old, Doe was approached by a deacon of the Aaronic Priesthood — a program for boys age 12 or 13 that prepares them for becoming a church priest — during her Sunday religious classes, according to the complaint. The boy, referred to as Perpetrator Smith in the complaint, “quickly progressed” to constantly hovering around the girl during class before he began physically touching her, the complaint alleges.
“As a six-year-old girl, [Doe] did not recognize that she was being groomed,” the complaint reads.
During one instance, the deacon followed the girl into a restroom and allegedly molested her. He then exposed himself and forced the girl to fondle him.
Over the next month and a half, this happened at least eight times, according to the complaint. The alleged abuse also included forced oral sex.
“Despite this, [Perpetrator Smith] was never hindered, reprimanded, interrupted, or otherwise kept from continuing to abuse [Doe],” the complaint reads. “The abuse would only stop when [Doe] left the area.”
Alleged abuse in Modesto spanned about a year and a half
Around 1994, the girl — then about 11 years old — and her family moved to Modesto and became members of the local LDS church. The complaint alleges that while at a meetinghouse sleepover, girls were told to use the restroom to change into their pajamas. While she was changing, a deacon — who allegedly was the son of the Modesto-area bishop at the time and is referred to as “Perpetrator John” in the complaint — reportedly entered the restroom and fondled the girl under her clothing before he forced her to perform oral sex.
Court documents do not say whether boys and girls were participating in the sleepover — together or separately — or if the boy was at the church for some other reason. The complaint alleges the girl fled in a hurry and left her bra on the restroom floor. When the girl’s bra was retrieved and given to a teacher overseeing the youth that night, the girl was forced to walk up in front of the whole group to get it back.
The complaint alleges that “no questions were ever asked as to why [the girl’s] undergarments were left on the floor.”
“Emboldened by this sexual assault, Perpetrator John began targeting [the girl] during ‘Primary’ classes and stalking [the girl] while she was in the play yard,” reads the complaint.
Perpetrator John’s alleged abuse “quickly escalated” to digital penetration and vaginal rape, according to the complaint. The abuse allegedly happened uninterrupted, every couple of weeks, for about a year and a half. It didn’t stop until the girl moved out of the Modesto area, according to the complaint.
Special court created to handle the complaints
Currently, there are 91 cases filed in California counties, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Fresno, Kern, Lassen, Los Angeles, Napa, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tulare, Ventura and Yuba.
In Sacramento, four cases have been filed against the church — three involving male plaintiffs and one a female plaintiff. The defendants accused of sexual abuse in these cases were described as a teacher, a missionary, a priest and a bishop.
In Fresno, a priest is accused of sexually abusing a girl.
In San Luis Obispo, a missionary is accused of sexually abusing a boy.
All 91 cases were filed by Slater Slater Schulman — a Beverley Hills-based law firm that specializes in sex abuse claims. Michael Carney, an attorney who’s been assigned to the case, told The Bee that a special court known as a Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding was put together to process the large number of complaints. The cases will now be processed before a judge from the Complex Litigation Panel of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
“Our hope is that this will increase efficiency for the survivors and ensure consistent rulings,” Carney wrote in an email to The Bee.
Sam Penrod, a media relations manager at the church’s Salt Lake City communications department, pushed back on all of the claims, stating the law firm representing the plaintiffs “has aggressively marketed for clients.”
He also stated the church launched its own investigation, which showed “multiple discrepancies in many of the claims.”
“The majority of these claims are decades old and many potential witnesses who could provide information have passed away,” Penrod wrote in a prepared statement.
While many of the recent statewide filings wouldn’t work under previous statute of limitations laws, more recent state laws have lifted some limitations in sex abuse cases. In March, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that in 2019, California temporarily removed the statute of limitations in certain sex abuse cases, but this lasted only until 2022. Because plaintiffs were in talks with the church before this time, Slater Slater Schulman could file in August 2024.
“What every study has shown when it comes to disclosing childhood sexual abuse is that first you have to address it personally, then among friends and family and then in a public forum such as a lawsuit — that is a journey that most victims never take,” Carney told the Union Tribune in March. “That’s a very difficult process. A lot of people don’t get to that for many, many years, if at all.”
Allegations of cover-up
Court documents show a legal tug-of-war between Slater Slater Schulman and the church about where the venue of these cases should be — federal or state court.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys argued the church wanted the cases in federal court in order to complicate things. In state court, the numerous cases had a chance to be consolidated and processed by one judge in a single court, which ultimately was granted for many of the cases. In federal court, the church would “waste each party’s resources, including the courts’, and unnecessarily prolong litigation,” attorneys claimed.
In the Stanislaus County filing, the plaintiffs’ attorneys argued the church had immense financial power that it used to cover up allegations and that it was attempting to do so now.
Court documents allege the church as a whole receives more than $7 billion a year in tithing from members. Tithing is when an entity requires a percentage of a person’s income. It also alleged the church had financial assets and real estate in excess of $200 billion.
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs argued the church uses this financial power to suppress reports of allegations, using in-house counselors and legal firms to vet sex abuse victims for potentially costly settlements.
“These horrific crimes, most often perpetrated against children, are swept under the rug by the Church and its ordained members as a matter of policy,” court documents read. “The Church actively works to make sure that credible reports of sexual violence — including the rape of children — are silenced”
In his statement, Penrod denied this and stated that it complied with “whatever reporting is required by law.” However, he did state the church helped “victims receive care, including from professional counselors.”
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs pushed back on this in court filings, stating “counseling is not sufficient, in and of itself, to constitute a reasonable step or reasonable safeguard.”
Slater Slater Schulman alleges that the counselors provide only “spiritual counseling” and that a helpline designed to allow reporting of sexual abuse is actually staffed by with attorneys of Kirton McConkie, one of the largest law firms in the state of Utah.
Penrod acknowledged the helpline in his statement, which he stated was there to ensure that church policy — to ensure that child sexual abuse is stopped — is followed.
“The abuse of a child or any other individual is inexcusable,” wrote Penrod. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes this, teaches this, and dedicates tremendous resources and efforts to prevent, report and address abuse. We have deep concern for all victims of abuse.”
The Union Tribune reported that none of the recent California lawsuits included specific allegations of misuse of the helpline, but rather point to it as an example of the church’s alleged efforts to cover up abuse. The Stanislaus County filing did the same.
In February, Slater Slater Schulman informed the Stanislaus County Superior Court that its efforts in county court would stop and be transferred to the Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding in Los Angeles, where it will be processed among the numerous other statewide cases.
This story was originally published April 7, 2025 at 12:57 PM.