I AM WRITING to share my small weight
of evidence regarding the furor over
rituahzed child sexual abuse within the LDS
community ("Leaked Bishop’s Memo
Spotlights LDS Ritual Satanic Sexual Abuse,"
SUNSTONE 15:5).
I have worked with many children
who have been sexually abused as
well as adults who were molested as chil-
dren Of the adults I have worked with, four
reported Satanic abuse involving LDS church
members that was very similar to that
reported by Bishop Glenn Pace of the LDS
Presiding Bishopnc.
Six of my clients in cases
of Incest were daughters of former bishops
As Dr Don Price commented in the Salt Lake
Tribune on 26 October 1991, it is only to be
expected that Satanic abuse will imitate
rituals of predominant religions.
What I have noticed, however, is the in-
crease in children reporting rltualized sexual
abuse involving groups of children and
adults These reports may or may not relate
to Satanic rituals and the more bizarre activi-
ties associated with Satanic worship, but they
generally seem to occur within LDS church-
linked neighborhood groups.
A little over five years ago, at about the
same time the Hadfield case emerged in Lehi,
I, along with five or six other therapists,
interviewed approximately twenty children
from a Bountiful ward. In this same ward,
other children had made allegations about
Bret Bullock and other adults in what ap-
peared to be a group sex ring Bullock was
subsequently convicted. Others were not
charged. In this same neighborhood, totally
different adults were named by totally differ-
ent children.
This, of course, sounds hke an
hysterical witch-hunt.
However, the children who reported the
second, non-Bullock sex ring did not know
what the children in the Bullock case had
said and were too young to come up with the
consistent, spontaneous, explicit detml and
congruent emotional affect that they
manifested. These two Bountiful sex nngs
were never linked by any children as far as I
know Both groups involved ritualized sex
acts but to my knowledge, not Satanic rites.
The bishop arranged investigative evalua-
tions for all the children in the Bullock case
None of these children reported being
abused. However, they were seen only once
by the therapists, and given the nature of the
reported abuse (pornographic filming, ani-
mal killing, group sexual acts of all kinds,
etc, and the threats for "telling" reported by
the children who had "talked"), it would be
surprising if a therapist could elicit informa-
tion in one interview.
One aspect of the second alleged sex ring
was that a daughter and son-in-law of a gen-
eral authority were named as the main abus-
ers by at least seven children. Explicit detail
was given about this couple’s activities by all
of these children. When the couple’s names
surfaced, the Bountiful police, for all practi-
cal purposes, dropped the case.
Witnessing how the children in the then-
contemporaneous Hadfleld and Bullock
cases suffered, all the parents of the children
who made allegations refused to allow their
children to testify in court. At the time, the
stake president and others in the Church
system said they believed the children, but
no Church action was ever taken against any
of the alleged perpetrators.
The Church is in a legal bind in cases of
this sort, no doubt feanng lawsuits by those
who are disciplined or by future victims if
further abuse occurs by previously alleged
perpetrators now holding Church office. The
Church IS also in a difficult position when it
comes to adults now seeking Church action
against a perpetrator for abuse that may have
occurred years ago when they were children.
Nevertheless, Utah has one of the highest
child sexual abuse rates in the nation, and
much of the sex ring activity being reported
allegedly has taken place withln LDS congre-
gations and is perpetrated by active LDS
members. The Church must warn its
members of the vulnerability of youth even
to the Church’s own youth leaders and to
family members. Withln the Salt Lake Valley
alone, sex abuse rings have been reported in
Midvale, West Valley, Salt Lake, and Bounti-
ful.
In talking with colleagues, I have heard
several factors mentioned that may place
children at risk in the LDS culture. Utah’s
high birthrate in Utah and low per-capita
income place extra pressure on family sys-
tems LDS neighborhoods generally encour-
age a lot of adult/child ~interaction outside the
family. While this may create a supportive
environment, It also puts children more at
risk for abuse The patriarchal system where
the priesthood holder’s authority is not
questioned allows pedophiles a umque op-
portunity Bishops often support the perpe-
trator because he is a priesthood holder
Unfortunately, children cannot trust every-
one, ~including Church leaders. The Church
needs to change its implied message that its
leaders are morally infallible.
There is the LDS attitude that marriage
should be preserved at any cost LDS denial
of anything being wrong within family or
Church systems is exceedingly strong. I be-
lieve that a Church cover-up occurred in the
case of the general authority’s children, al-
though I have little admissible evidence to
support my oplmon If there has been a
cover-up, obviously It is intolerable to
Mormons and non-Mormons alike.
Sexual abuse will decrease when the pub-
lic becomes informed and acts to protect its
children. I plead with LDS leaders to help
make this information accessible.
MARION B. SMITH
Former Director
Intermountain Sexual Abuse Centers
Salt Lake City
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