WEST VIRGINIA
The Journal
JUN 17, 2017
DANYEL VANREENEN
Staff Writer
dvanreenen@journal-news.net
MARTINSBURG — The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals overturned a 2015 Berkeley County Circuit Court on Wednesday, making it possible for the case against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to proceed to trial, according to counsel for the plaintiffs.
The case against the church was initially investigated after a church leader and member was found guilty and sentenced in July 2013 to 35 to 75 years in prison for sexually abusing two minors — 4 and 3 years of age at the time of the abuse.
Christopher Michael Jensen, 25, of Hedgesville, was initially accused of sexually abusing young children in 2004 when he was 13-years-old. Living in Provo, Utah at the time, Jensen was arrested at his middle school and charged with two felony counts of sexual abuse for pinning two 12 and 13 year old females against a wall and fondling them inappropriately and without consent.
Court documents said Jensen’s Sexual Behavior Risk Assessment indicated that he was highly likely to reoffend, but his charges were reduced to two misdemeanor counts of lewdness involving a child. Jensen’s grandfather, a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader in Utah, was present for Jensen’s court proceedings, and the church allegedly knew of Jensen’s criminal history.
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