LDS Church policy on handling sex abuse cases at core of newly filed lawsuit

By Genelle Pugmire
Daily Herald
June 28, 2018

https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/faith/lds-church-policy-on-handling-sex-abuse-cases-at-core/article_b655b13a-c802-5eba-9215-2cfce6bfb68c.html

Kristy Johnson speaks during a news conference Thursday, June 28, 2018, in Salt Lake City. Johnson, a California woman suing her father for sexual abuse that occurred during her childhood, says Mormon church leaders allowed the sexual assault to continue by failing to report it to police. Johnson said that her now-deceased mother told local church leaders about the abuse multiple times during the 1960-1970s. Photo by Rick Bowmer

When Kristy Johnson was just starting first grade in the 1960s, life changed for her at home as well.

Now, decades later, Kristy Johnson, of La Habra, California, has filed a complaint and is seeking a jury trial against her father, Dr. Melvin Kay Johnson, of Lehi, with the U.S. District Court District of Utah, Central Division.

Kristy Johnson is accusing her father of years of sex abuse that occurred in their home, and in other locations. The family are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

While not a defendant in the case, the lawsuit call the LDS Church to task for the way in which members are reportedly counseled to handle sex abuse issues. The case seeks changes to the LDS Handbooks 1 and 2 when it comes to zero tolerance.

Kristy Johnson is being represented by attorney Craig Vernon of James, Vernon and Weeks law firm, located in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. Vernon is also attorney for McKenna Denson.

Denson is suing former Provo Missionary Training Center President Joseph Bishop for sex abuse. Her case has named the LDS Church for the way it reportedly handled, or didn’t handle, information when she told her ecclesiastical leaders over the years about her abuse.

According to Vernon, although they didn’t know each other, both Johnson and Denson were in the MTC at the same time. He said Johnson just recently revisited her past searching for answers.

“Her mother died and then her brother,” Vernon said. “She went on a search for some answers.”

Vernon noted the LDS Church could not be sued in Johnson’s case, but in cases like Johnson’s and Denson’s, he always includes a claim against the church in an effort to change its policy.

“It’s not fair to the bishops,” Vernon said. “They need to decide between clergy privilege and protecting the child.”

He added they should be dual tracking the issue with the police and the bishop. However, Vernon said the church does not want to put their bishops in a position where they would have to be court witnesses or have to interact with police and court issues.

According to Kristy Johnson’s court documents, “When Kristy was approximately six years old, her mother discovered these sexual crimes against her daughter and reported the ongoing sexual abuse to their local bishop. In accordance with church policy, this crime was handled as a matter of sin, only, and the police were not called.”

It continues, “Following this disclosure to the local bishop, the family was moved to a new home and Johnson was given a new position in the Church Education System at an LDS seminary building in Ogden, Utah. Johnson took Kristy to this building after school and, while there, sexually molested her on numerous occasions,”

Again, Kristy’s mother reported abuse to her local bishop. Again, it appears the reported abuse was treated as an ecclesiastical matter, not a crime. This happened one more time a few years later, according to documents.

The family was the relocated to Provo where Melvin Johnson worked as a professor in the Religion Department at Brigham Young University.

According to the court documents the abuse became more frequent as Kristy Johnson grew older and Melvin Johnson reportedly added another sibling to the pattern of abuse. Kristy tried to keep that from happening by various methods.

“From the time Kristy was six until the time she went on her LDS mission, she was repeatedly groped, fondled, molested, sexually assaulted, forced to perform sexual acts and raped by Defendant Dr. Kelvin Kay Johnson in her family home, in the LDS seminary building, in Defendant Johnson’s office on the Brigham Young University campus and other places,” the document states.

As part of her claims for relief, Kristy Johnson wants the court to order her father to devote “significant” time and resources to campaign for and influence policy change with the LDS Church.

She is seeking changes to Handbook 1 and Handbook 2 on how leaders handle these issues. This is beyond the March 23, 2018, policy that states, “We continue to urge our leaders to take reports of abuse very seriously. Leaders should call the Church’s abuse helpline, which has been established to assure that victims are cared for and that abuse reporting laws are strictly obeyed.”

The case claims that public statements by the LDS Church claiming zero tolerance is a contradiction to internal policies set forth in Handbook 1 and it misleads members of the LDS Church about what will happen after they report an abuse.

This lawsuit, was filed in advance of the Utah premiere of “Glass Temples,” a documentary short film about Kristy’s journey on Thursday at the Salt Lake City Public Library.

The documentary, originally shown at the Sundance Film Festival, shines a spotlight on policies and a culture that Kristy Johnson says too often protects sexual predators and not innocent children.