LDS Church sued for alleged role in Boy Scouts sexual abuse crisis

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was hit with several lawsuits in late December for allegedly covering up decades of sexual abuse among Boy Scout troops in Arizona, marking the latest litigation before the state’s end-of-year deadline for adult victims to sue.

The church “must be held accountable in order to bring healing and closure to Mormon victims of childhood sexual abuse,” Hurley McKenna and Mertz, a law firm that focuses on church sexual abuse, said in a statement.

In the seven lawsuits, each representing a different male victim, attorneys say church officials never notified authorities about abuse allegations. Public records show that members of church-sponsored Boy Scout troops who were abused would tell church bishops about what they had experienced. The lawsuits allege bishops would then tell the victims to keep quiet so the church could conduct its own investigation.