Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Latter-day Saint movements Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA · 2013

United States: 35-to-75 years for a church-endorsed babysitter, and the civil case the church settled mid-trial

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

member of the congregation recommended to families by local church leaders

Organization

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Spiritual nexus

Jensen held no office; the authority that opened the doors was his leaders' — families trusted him because the men who led their congregation vouched for him.

  • Institutional obedience or isolation
  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2013-01-01 · conviction at trial; related civil suit settled mid-trial

    Berkeley County Circuit Court, West Virginia (criminal, 2013); West Virginia civil courts (2018). Christopher Michael Jensen was convicted at trial in 2013 of sexual abuse and assault of two children and sentenced to thirty-five to seventy-five years; the conviction stands. Six families later sued the church alleging that leaders had recommended him to them and concealed prior concerns; the church settled mid-trial in 2018 for an undisclosed sum.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • local leaders' endorsement of him as a role model, which is what put him in families' homes as a babysitter

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting conviction and civil case report The Washington Post: coverage of the civil trial and settlement.

National reporting on the criminal conviction and civil case.

national public broadcaster investigative report PBS NewsHour: investigation of church handling of abuse claims.

Public broadcaster's investigative corroboration.

Related record

Related cases · Christian institutions & contexts

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