Mormon Church DENIES claims that they failed to report sex abuse hotline calls to police and instead consulted lawyers to shield themselves from potential lawsuits
- Earlier this week, Vice News published an article suggesting a 24-hour helpline set up for Mormon bishops to report sex abuse may have had an ulterior motive
- The publication claims that calls to the hotline ‘were not immediately transferred to authorities’
- Instead, the calls were allegedly ‘funneled’ through to a law firm which would help the Church identify cases that could pose a high financial risk
- A Mormon Church spokesperson blasted the claims on Friday, saying the Church takes all abuse claims extremely seriously
The Mormon Church is denouncing claims that they used a victims’ hotline to hide reports of sexual abuse.
On Friday, a Church spokesperson slammed an article published by Vice News, which questioned whether a 24-hour abuse help line was effective in supporting victims and bringing perpetrators to justice.
‘Abuse is taken very seriously by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,’ the spokesperson said.
‘The Church has invested heavily in resources and training, including the help line, to prevent, combat and address abuse’.
The helpline is available to its 30,000 bishops and 3,000 stake presidents so that they can report suspected cases of criminal behavior.
But, earlier this week, Vice published its bombshell article alleging that the hotline may actually be used ‘to shield the Mormon Church from potential lawsuits that pose a financial threat to them’.
The Mormon Church is denouncing claims that they used a victims’ hotline to hide reports of sexual abuse
Vice claims that calls to the hotline were ‘funneled’ through to law firm Kirton McConkie so that they could help the Church identify cases that might pose a high financial risk
According to the publication, calls to the the hotline ‘are not immediately transferred to authorities’, but are rather ‘funneled’ through to the law firm Kirton McConkie, which has close ties to the Church.
The publication quotes a source as saying that one lawyer from Kirton McConkie ‘acknowledged that that they [the firm] uses information gleaned from helpline calls to identify cases that pose a high financial risk to the Mormon Church.’
The Church does not publicly disclose the number of calls that are made to its hotline.
Vice claims that the ‘lack of transparency contrasts starkly with actions taken by other religious groups and institutions’ and that it is a ‘visible symptom of a system that appears to place Church interests ahead of abuse victims’.
Church practices surrounding the hotline were reportedly brought to light in a sexual abuse-related civil lawsuit brought against the Church by six plaintiffs in West Virginia.
All plaintiffs say their children were abused by convicted Mormon sex offender, Michael Jensen.
‘Helen’ spoke with Vice about the alleged sexual abuse suffered by her son at the hands of his babysitter, Michael Jensen
One of the plaintiffs, known only as Helen, was interviewed by Vice, and relayed harrowing details of the alleged abuse her child suffered at the hands of Jensen.
She said her four-year-old son tearfully told her that Jensen ‘made him suck his privates’ while he was employed as their babysitter.
In 2013, Jensen was jailed for the abuse of two other children in the community whilst working as a babysitter.
He is currently serving 35 years in prison without parole.
Christopher Jensen (known as Michael Jensen) is currently serving time in a West Virginia prison