A Woman Was Shocked to See Her Name in a Mormon Church-compiled Dossier — Which She Says Was Designed to Discredit Her Birth Mother

By Peggy Fletcher Stack
Salt Lake Tribune
April 4, 2018

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/04/04/a-woman-was-shocked-to-see-her-name-in-a-mormon-church-compiled-dossier-which-she-says-was-designed-to-discredit-her-birth-mother/

(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) A window washer hangs at a building near the LDS Church's Salt Lake Temple last week.

Last week, a 35-year-old woman, who was adopted as an infant by a Mormon couple, discovered her name in an unexpected place: It was in the first item on a list of damaging information an LDS Church-hired attorney had compiled about her birth mother.

That mother was the one who has alleged she was raped in 1984 by Joseph L. Bishop, then the president of the Missionary Training Center in Provo, while she was an LDS missionary.

And the extensive list revealed the lawyer’s efforts to assess the accuser’s credibility, an aggressive response that some say could scare away other sexual assault victims and prevent them from stepping forward.

Suddenly, the adoptee, who lives in San Diego, found herself drawn into a case that has rocked Mormonism since the release last month of a secret recording during which Bishop, now 85, admitted to being a “sex addict” and molesting at least one female missionary during his MTC tenure. Though he denied raping the Colorado woman, Bishop did tell Brigham Young University police he had asked her to bare her breasts.

The LDS Church turned to Salt Lake City attorney David Jordan to investigate the woman’s allegations and to communicate with her Idaho lawyer Craig Vernon, who was seeking a financial settlement on her behalf.

Jordan, who did not return a request for comment made to his office, launched an inquiry. In a nine-page letter to the woman’s attorney, he notes “inconsistencies” in her story and details a string of episodes in the accuser’s life, ranging from the church discipline she had previously faced to her criminal record, and from failed relationships to lawsuits, even job firings.

A bulleted timeline begins with the woman’s teenage pregnancy and includes the name of the daughter she gave up for adoption.

Seeing her name in the file on her birth mother was troubling on several levels, the adoptee told The Salt Lake Tribune this week. “It has given me a lot of anxiety.”

She asked not to be named because she is not part of the case her biological parent has made against Bishop and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The California woman does not see why the Utah-based faith would mention her birth and adoption as something to be used to undercut her mom’s credibility.

The daughter’s adoption — conducted through an LDS Church agency — was closed. She said it took intense sleuthing on her part to find her birth mom.