Arizona Case Shows Why Mormon Bishops Are Not Reporting Sex Abuse to Police Every Time. That Has a Prosecutor Complaining about the Church’s Lawyers.

By Nate Carlisle
Salt Lake Tribune
May 31, 2018

https://local.sltrib.com/eu/

An Arizona prosecutor, who says a lawyer for the LDS Church told a bishop he didn’t need to inform police that a child was being sexually abused, has filed a bar complaint against that attorney and his law firm.

An indictment against the child’s parents suggests the abuse went on for a decade. The Mormon bishop in Kingman may face a criminal charge, too, for not notifying police, though Arizona law doesn’t always require clergy to report abuse and, documents say, the bishop encouraged the now-teenager to speak to law enforcement.

Meanwhile, both a prosecutor and a victims’ advocate in northwest Arizona are expressing concern about the advice the LDS Church’s law firm, Salt Lake City-based Kirton McConkie, is giving to the faith’s lay leaders.