UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Janelle Stecklein
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Dec 12 2012
West Valley City • The former pastor of the Tongan United Methodist Church was charged Wednesday with failing to report child abuse.
Meanwhile, his former congregation, now fractured into two distinct groups — the Methodists and the Weslyan Tongans — is headed to civil court to duke it out over who should have access to the property and money that belonged to his former flock.
Filimone Havili Mone, 59, faces one count of failure to report abuse of a child, a class B misdemeanor, in West Valley City Justice Court.
The sexual abuse charge stems from the long-time pastor’s failure to promptly report a crime when he allegedly learned that young boys in the congregation had been sexually abused by an older boy several years ago. It ultimately led to his removal by national leaders of the United Methodist Church (UMC) for violating church’s mandatory abuse reporting policy. But local church members say Mone’s departure was the catalyst for a deep schism within the congregation that serves an estimated 600 members.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.