Source: How Mormon church ‘help line’ hid child sex abuse Channel: AP Archive Published: August 13, 2022 | Archived: May 4, 2026

Video: How Mormon church ‘help line’ hid child sex abuse
Channel: AP Archive
Published: August 13, 2022
Duration: 9:10
Views: 7,829
Category: News & Politics
Video ID: wYwyIsAP2pY

Description

(8 Aug 2022) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: PART MUST CREDIT COCHISE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE ASSOCIATED PRESS Bisbee, Arizona -  30 October 2021

1. Various of swings

ASSOCIATED PRESS Bisbee, Arizona - 28 October 2021 ++COVERED++

1. SOUNDBITE (English) MJ, Daughter of Paul Adams:

“I do think that other people knew.” ASSOCIATED PRESS Bisbee, Arizona -  31 October 2021

1. Drone of swing set and LDS Bisbee ward

ASSOCIATED PRESS Bisbee, Arizona -  28 October 2021

1. Drone of the Adams neighborhood

LEGAL RECORD OBTAINED BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sierra Vista, Arizona - 19 May 2021 ++SOT PARTIALLY COVERED++

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Emily Reynolds, former Bisbee ward member, with Lynne Cadigan, Plaintiff’s Attorney during her deposition:

Cadigan: “Do you have any regrets about not calling the police on Paul Adams?” Reynolds: “Absolutely, because things could have gone better a lot earlier.” ASSOCIATED PRESS Tucson, Arizona - 26 October 2021

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Lynne Cadigan, Plaintiffs’ Attorney:

“Who should be held accountable for this? Someone has to pay the price for the enormous damage done to these children.” ASSOCIATED PRESS Tucson, Arizona - 30 October 2021

1. Various of youngest daughter, abuse survivor

ASSOCIATED PRESS Bisbee, Arizona - 29 October 2021 ++SOT PARTIALLY COVERED++

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Brian McIntyre, Cochise County Attorney:

“Who doesn’t want to protect just every kid that’s there. And maybe if changes happen, maybe there won’t be another one that suffers five more years because of this… Sorry” ON SCREEN TEXT: On June 17, 2021, Leizza Adams gave a deposition in a lawsuit filed against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church. ON SCREEN TEXT: She said the church knew for years that her husband was sexually abusing their oldest daughter. LEGAL RECORDS OBTAINED BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Bisbee, Arizona - 17 June 2021

1. Recorded deposition of Leizza Adams UPSOUND (English) “Did he tell you in that meeting with you and Bishop Herrod that he had sexually molested your oldest daughter? Yes.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS Bisbee, Arizona - 28 October 2021

1. Drone of dirt road leading to the Adams home

ASSOCIATED PRESS New York - 28 May 2022

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Rezendes, AP Investigative Reporter:

“Paul Adams was a US Border Patrol employee. He was sexually abusing his daughter and taking videos of the abuse. ASSOCIATED PRESS Bisbee, Arizona - 1 November 2021

1. Border Patrol vehicle near Arizona, Mexico border

ASSOCIATED PRESS New York - 28 May 2022 ++SOT PARTIALLY COVERED++

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Rezendes, AP Investigative Reporter:

“The Adams had a second daughter and Paul Adams began abusing his infant daughter.” COCHISE COUNTRY SHERIFF’S OFFICE Bisbee, Arizona - 8 February 2017

1. Mug shot of Paul Adams after arrest

ASSOCIATED PRESS Bisbee, Arizona - 31 October 2021

1. Various exteriors of the LDS Bisbee Ward

ASSOCIATED PRESS Bisbee, Arizona - 29 October 2021 ++SOT PARTIALLY COVERED++

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Brian McIntyre, Cochise County Attorney:

“Most churches have some form of confession. And in this case, the Paul Adams confessed to his bishop that he was sexually acting out and that that included with his daughter. And that there may have been videotape, videotaping of the offenses with his daughter.” HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS Bisbee, Arizona - 12 June 2020

1. Various transcripts of an HSI interview with Former LDS Bishop John Herrod

ASSOCIATED PRESS Tuscon, Arizona - 26 October 2021 ++SOT PARTIALLY COVERED++

1. Cadigan’s hands

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Tags

186ad53b89314528a3bc3f62f91089f6 AP Archive Arizona Brian McIntyre California Canada Emily Reynolds General news John Herrod Lynne Cadigan MJ Matthew Whitworth Media Michael Rezendes Miranda Whitworth Nancy Salminen New York New Zealand Oceania Ontario Paul Adams Phoenix Salt Lake City Sierra Vista Simon Peterson Tucson US AZ Mormon Abuse (CR) United States Utah William Maledon apus157335

Transcript — YouTube panel (human-authored)

0:02 \[Music\] I do think that other people knew do you have any regrets about not calling the police on Paul Adams absolutely because things could have gone better A lot earlier who should be held accountable for this someone has to pay the price for the enormous Damage Done to these children who doesn’t want to protect just every kid that’s there and maybe if changes happen foreign maybe there won’t be another one where that suffers five more years because of this \[Music\] sorry \[Music\] this is the video tape deposition of Lisa Adams by Zoom video conference taken by the defendants in case number did he tell you in that meeting with you and Bishop Herod that he had sexually molested your oldest daughter yes Paul Adams was a U.S border Patrol employee he was sexually abusing his daughter and taking videos of the abuse the Adams had a second daughter and Paul Adams began abusing his infant daughter most churches have some form of confession and in this case the Paul

1:42 Adams confessed to his Bishop that he was sexually acting out and that that included with his daughter and that there may have been videotape videotaping of the offenses with his daughter one would think that’s enough to trigger an investigation to call the authorities to comply with the mandatory reporting law but instead what the policy of this church is is to call what’s called a helpline when the bishop calls the helpline it’s my understanding that it goes to an employee of the helpline the employee then calls the Kirtin McConkey Law Firm and says hey we have this abuse situation in Arizona and the attorney then calls the bishop and tells him what to do which in this case was don’t report it hello hi I’m trying to reach the Mormon abuse hotline uh no I’m not I was just hoping to talk to someone on the uh the help line and get some information since there’s only one person that I talked to and no other Witnesses or anything else they said you absolutely can do nothing

3:10 except for encourage him to turn it in and I know that Bishop mozzie after me confided him he said we can’t do anything Kennedy said no because not unless someone else reports it then you can report that act the individual is told that because of the priest penitent privilege if you disclose that if you report then you could be sued or the church could be sued for violating the priest penitent privilege now that is \[ \_\_ \] three of the Adam’s children are suing the Mormon church and others associated with it for failing to report their sexual and physical abuse they are also suing the Mormons for a church-wide conspiracy to cover up child sexual abuse Bishop Harrod made it clear that Paul Adams should turn himself in or give him authority to report it to a to authorities he wouldn’t do that to lay the blame at the feet of the Bishops for it is it just absurd it’s just absurd was it your understanding as a member of The Bisbee Ward that it was the bishop who would would take care of reporting

4:30 any crimes or any problems to the police not the members correct the visiting the visiting teachers mentioned items that they saw and mentioned things that were said in the home they told me that brother Paul was was doing um inappropriate things with his children at first I thought it was spanking they just said hey let’s excommunicate her father it didn’t stop let’s have them go to therapy it didn’t stop hey let’s forgive and forget and this will all go away it didn’t go away they just let it keep happening finally in 2017 he was arrested by the Department of Homeland Security after New Zealand police arrested a child pornographer and found the video that Paul Adams had made on his cell phone we could tell from the exit it wasn’t Canadian it was American so we could narrow it down pretty quickly it was quite good that they were able to do something with this video and track it down to Mr Adams but that’s not always the case

5:54 \[Music\] I’m not trying to say oh I couldn’t control myself but I I do have a problem yeah and and like I couldn’t make myself stop um I you know permanently yeah don’t stop sometimes and again I’m not trying to say you know \[Music\] she said she knew for seven years and she didn’t do anything about it because the bishop said for her to not do anything let’s forgive and forget Paul but nothing changed the more I knew the more I wanted to help her fight this fight that she didn’t even know she was having to fight yet we need to find out My ultimate goal is to help her heal she has a lot of problems because she’s come a long way she has come a very long way she is an amazing amazing girl and smart and funny yeah I couldn’t personally continue providing tithling money to and tied to a church that would allow children of any age be abused without trying to put methods in place to prevent it what I think we all want for justice in this case is for churches to start immediately

7:56 reporting sex abuse to the police not to each other no in-house secrets when that’s pieced together the question then becomes is this a bishop level problem or is this an entire organization problem the statute is currently worded indicates very clearly that these Bishops did nothing wrong they didn’t violate the law and therefore they can’t be held liable I don’t know many adults who would be able to be thoroughly infuriated and just a mess she came back stronger than than anyone I’ve ever known I have I admire her and I love her I hope that they learn for their from their stupid major mistakes and actually report all the illegal stuff that they do know is going on