LDS 'help line' case (AP/court records): abuse continued 7 yrs; wife convicted

Cited record

Sources

AZFamily / Associated Press (2022) 'Seven years of sex abuse in Bisbee: How Mormon officials let it happen' [AP investigation built on unsealed court records], 4 August. Available at: azfamily.com (Accessed: 15 July 2026).

The AP's investigation of the LDS Church's abuse 'help line', from unsealed court records: when a Bisbee, Arizona bishop reported a father's ongoing abuse, 'church attorneys in Salt Lake City who staff the help line around the clock said that because he learned of the abuse during a counseling session the church considers a spiritual confession, he was legally bound to keep the abuse secret.' Paul Adams 'continued abusing his daughter for as many as seven more years'; he 'died by suicide in jail before he could stand trial on federal child pornography charges and state child sex abuse charges', and his wife 'pleaded no contest to two counts of child abuse and served two-and-a-half years in state prison.' Note: the help-line mechanism is documented in unsealed records as reported by AP; no court has entered a finding of liability against the church itself in this matter.