UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune
By PAMELA MANSON | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Mar 05 2015
A former pastor at the troubled Tongan United Methodist Church in West Valley City, the Rev. Filimone Havili Mone, has been found guilty in a church trial of violating denominational law for failing to timely report suspected sexual abuse by a boy in the congregation.
As part of the verdict, the jury voted unanimously to terminate Mone’s United Methodist membership. He retains his ordination in the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, an independent Methodist denomination.
The verdict was delivered last week by a jury of 13 United Methodist clergy at the end of a two-day trial in Longmont, Colo., a church news release says. In a church trial, an individual responds to a charge or charges of having violated denominational law, as set forth in the church’s Book of Discipline, according to the release.
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