LDS Church Accused of Using Legal Strategies to Avoid Child Sex Abuse Claims

Recordings reveal the church offered a $300,000 settlement to silence a victim, highlighting systemic issues in handling abuse allegations.

Recordings obtained by The Associated Press reveal that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has been using legal strategies to protect itself from child sex abuse claims.
The case of Chelsea Goodrich, who accused her father, a former LDS bishop, of sexual abuse, is highlighted as an example. Despite her father's confession to a bishop, the church cited the clergy-penitent privilege law to prevent the bishop from testifying in court.
Paul Rytting, head of the church’s Risk Management Division, offered Chelsea and her mother $300,000 in exchange for a confidentiality agreement and a pledge to destroy their recordings of the meetings.
Chelsea's father, John Goodrich, was quickly excommunicated following his confession, but without the bishop's testimony, prosecutors dropped the charges and he remains a free man practicing dentistry in Idaho.
The LDS Church has been using nondisclosure agreements to keep sex abuse allegations secret, a practice common among other organizations, including the Catholic Church.