Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Latter-day Saint movements Harrisville, Utah, USA · 2008

United States: LDS bishop imprisoned for molesting girls of his own ward

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

bishop of a Harrisville ward, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Organization

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Spiritual nexus

Children of the congregation he presided over, in homes whose doors opened to him because he was their bishop.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2008-12-18 · guilty pleas in 2008 and 2011

    Second District Court, Utah, USA. Timothy McCleve, a bishop in Harrisville, pleaded guilty to sexually molesting girls of his own ward and was sentenced in December 2008 to terms of one to fifteen years; police described him stopping by victims' homes while their parents were away. After a further victim came forward he pleaded guilty again in 2011, drawing two additional one-to-fifteen-year terms.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • bishop's standing giving him access to ward families' homes while parents were away

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report Deseret News: 'Ex-bishop in Harrisville gets prison for sex abuse'.

Court report of the plea and sentence.

national broadcaster court reporting sentencing report KSL: sentencing report.

Independent corroboration.

Related record

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