Latest Sexual abuse News
Southern Baptists say denomination faces DOJ investigation
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention said Friday that several of the denomination's major entities are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice in the wake of its multiple problems related to clergy sex abuse. The SBC's Executive Committee...
Mormon lawmaker pushes abuse reporting reform in Utah
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Republican state lawmaker in Utah said Friday he plans to introduce legislation that would require clergy to report child abuse to authorities, eliminating the clergy-penitent privilege in a state where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the predominant...
Abortion ruling prompts variety of reactions from states
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 24 overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that had provided a constitutional right to abortion. The ruling was expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states, although the timing of those laws taking effect varies. Some Republican-led...
LA County deputy pleads not guilty to child sex assaults
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy pleaded not guilty Wednesday to sexually assaulting four girls between the ages of 7 and 13, prosecutors said. Sean Essex, 51, was ordered held without bail. The county district attorney's office said he was...
Fencing organization, coach sued over alleged sex abuse
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal lawsuit says USA Fencing, the national governing body for the sport, failed to protect a Tennessee teenager from sexual abuse over a two-year period. The girl and her parents filed suit last month against the Colorado-based organization as well as...
Israeli ex-minister sentenced over Australia sex abuse case
JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli court sentenced a former health minister to probation and a fine on Monday for obstructing justice in connection with the protracted extradition case against a former teacher accused of sexually abusing her students in Australia. Yaakov Litzman, a...
Ex-California policeman charged with on-duty sex assaults
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A former Fresno-area police officer has been charged with sexually assaulting four women while on duty, federal prosecutors said Friday. A federal grand jury indictment unsealed Friday charges J. Deshawn Torrence with depriving the women of their...
Portugal cardinal meets pope as sex abuse allegations swirl
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The archbishop of Lisbon met Friday with Pope Francis in a private audience at the Vatican to discuss “events in recent weeks that have marked the life of the Church in Portugal,” the Portuguese church said. The two-sentence communique gave no further...
Seven years of sex abuse: How Mormon officials let it happen
BISBEE, Ariz. (AP) — MJ was a tiny, black-haired girl, just 5 years old, when her father admitted to his bishop that he was sexually abusing her. The father, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and an admitted pornography addict, was in counseling with his...
4 takeaways from AP's Mormon church sex abuse investigation
When an Arizona bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church, learned that a member of his ward was sexually assaulting his 5-year-old daughter, he followed church policy and called the Mormon Abuse Help Line. The bishop later told law...
