Issue 177 – July 2024

S.M.A.R.T.
(Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today)
P O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 USA
E-mail: SMARTNEWS@aol.com
Home page: https://ritualabuse.us
Issue 177 – July 2024

The purpose of this newsletter is to help stop secretive organizations and groups from abusing others and to help those who allege they have been abused by such organizations and groups. This newsletter is not a substitute for other ways of recovering from ritual abuse. Readers should use caution while reading this newsletter. If necessary, make sure other support systems are available during and after reading this newsletter.

Important:  The resources mentioned in this newsletter are for educational value only. Reading the books cited may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when reading any book or contacting any resource mentioned in this newsletter. Some may have a religious or other agenda that may be separate from your own recovery process. Others may have valuable information on secretive organizations but have triggers or be somewhat sympathetic to those organizations.  Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the views expressed in this newsletter constitute expressions of opinion, and readers are cautioned to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions by consulting a variety of sources, including this newsletter. Resources listed, quoted and individual articles, etc. and their writers do not necessarily support all or any of the views mentioned in this newsletter. Also, the views, facts and opinions mentioned in this newsletter are solely the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of this newsletter or its editor. 

Copyright 2024 – All rights reserved.  No reproduction of any material without written permission from the editor and individual authors.

Information in this issue includes: The 2024 Online Annual Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Conference, ritualabuse.us, Proof That Ritual Abuse Exists, Large List of Ritual Abuse and Child Abuse References. Grey Faction Satanic Temple and Lucien Greaves Fact Sheet, Research and Information on Dissociative Identity Disorder, Multiple Personality Disorder, Sybil, Proof Sybil had MPD and it was caused by severe trauma, Stabilizing and Healing Techniques for Survivors, Dr. Alison Miller, Traces of Masonic Ritual Abuse in Carl Jung’s Red Book and Black Books, Dr. Lynn Brunet, Attachment Relationship in DID, Adah Sachs PhD, Patricia Quinn, Art Therapy in the Treatment of Addiction and Trauma, Musical Performance and Sharing About His Songs, Michael Skinner, S.M.A.R.T. newsletter, connections between ritual abuse and secretive organizations, Survivorship organization supporting survivors of extreme child abuse, Larry Nassar’s victims, botched FBI probe, Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Montreal Mind-Control Experiments, Cold War-era mind-control experiment, class-action lawsuit, Allan Memorial Institute psychiatric hospital at McGill University in Montreal, reprogrammed, Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron, psychiatrist running a secret mind-control experiment, Central Intelligence Agency, MK-ULTRA, intensive electroshock therapy, drug-induced comas, sensory deprivation, Survivors of abuse at Missouri’s Christian boarding schools, religious boarding schools, civil lawsuits, allegations of physical emotional sexual child abuse, Agape Boarding School, Circle of Hope Girls Ranch, ABM Ministries Lighthouse Christian Academy, child molestation, statutory sodomy, sexual contact with a student, endangering the welfare of a child in a ritual or ceremony, Utah County ‘ritualistic’ sex abuse case, “ritualistic” sex abuse ring, Sex Abuse Lawsuits Against LDS Church, Mormon Church, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aggravated sexual abuse of a child and rape in a ritual abuse case, rape, routine sexual abuse

The 2024 Online Annual Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Conference August 10 – 11, 2024 If you are interested in participating in our conference or getting on a mailing list, please write: smartnews@aol.com
Special Low Prices extended until July 1, 2024. Internet conference information: http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference
Proof That Ritual Abuse Exists https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
Large List of Ritual Abuse and Child Abuse References https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
Grey Faction, Satanic Temple and Lucien Greaves Fact Sheet https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/grey-faction-satanic-temple-and-lucien-greaves-fact-sheet/
Research and Information on Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder) https://ritualabuse.us/research/did/
Sybil – Proof Sybil had MPD and it was caused by severe trauma https://ritualabuse.us/research/did/sybil-proof-sybil-had-mpd-and-it-was-caused-by-severe-trauma/
Videos, PowerPoints and transcripts from our 2023 conference https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2023-conference/2023-conference-video-presentations-and-powerpoints/

Stabilizing and Healing Techniques for Survivors – Dr. Alison Miller
Survivors have front people and insiders, parts hidden inside, who react to things in the present as if it was the past. Front people have been trained to be in denial about the history of abuse and about the existence of other inside people. Survivors’ overreactions to things in the present come from the insiders. I shall cover a number of stabilizing and healing techniques, the most important one being “Ask inside.” Come with your questions, and my presentation may bring up more questions. I’ll respond.

Dr. Alison Miller is a retired clinical psychologist who practised for over forty years, specializing for the last twenty five years in survivors of ritual abuse and mind control. Her new book, Demystifying Mind Control and Ritual Abuse: A Manual for Therapists, is coming out in October 2024. Her past books have helped many therapists and survivors. They include: Healing the Unimaginable: Treating Ritual Abuse and Mind Control, Becoming Yourself: Overcoming Mind Control and Ritual Abuse, and (with Wendy Hoffman) From the Trenches: A Victim and Therapist talk about Mind Control and Ritual Abuse.

Traces of Masonic Ritual Abuse in Carl Jung’s Red Book and Black Books – Dr. Lynn Brunet
During his mid-life period the Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung (1875–1961) underwent a perplexing and terrifying ‘dark night of the soul’ lasting many years, in which he experienced a series of disturbing fantasies and dreams. Acting as his own therapist, he recorded these experiences in journals that he called the Black Books and, from there, he produced a stunning creative text which he called The Red Book. But he chose not to publish it and it was only released in 2009, with the journals following in 2020. However, while these texts have been long anticipated, they are both confoundingly difficult to understand and have become a mystery in themselves. In late 2018 My Answer to Jung: Making Sense of The Red Book was published. This study demonstrates that Jung’s fantasies are not entirely original but that their plots, characters, settings and symbolism are remarkably similar to some of the higher degree rituals of Continental Freemasonry. It argues that the fantasies appear to be memories of an excruciating series of initiatory ordeals, possibly undergone in childhood and/or youth, that suggests an abusive use of the Masonic rites. In Black Book 6 Jung presses his soul to provide a glimpse into what all of this is about. She answers with a series of questions: “Temples in deserts? Secret societies? Ceremonies? Rituals? Colorful robes? Golden images of Gods of terrible aspect?” (BB 6, p. 268). This answer, along with many other details, confirms the thesis of my previous study: that Jung’s active imaginations are entirely associated with the rituals of the secret societies. This presentation will discuss the key features of The Red Book and Black Books which demonstrate that, over a century ago, Jung was recording, in extensive detail, his own memories of a torturous initiatory process that we now identify as ritual abuse.

Lynn Brunet (PhD) is an Australian art historian, artist and survivor of Masonic ritual abuse. Her research examines the coupling of trauma and ritual in modern and contemporary Western art and literature. In particular, it traces the connection between Masonic and other fraternal initiation rites and complex trauma in the work of so-called ‘tortured’ artists and writers.

Attachment Reationship in DID: Survival, Destruction and Healing – Adah Sachs PhD
Attachment is a survival instinct. It makes any newborn, from elephant to human to robin reach out and attach to another, because the newborn’s life depends on protection and care. This presentation, however, will discuss in depth how the life preserving instinct of attachment may be corrupted by trauma and abuse, and become a vehicle for harm and destruction. In families where abuse is an inevitable part of life (such as RA families), the intense distress and terror experienced by the child (or adult) intensifies their attachment needs to such an extent that reaching towards the attachment figure, who is also the abuser(s), is unavoidable, creating a vicious cycle of seemingly unstoppable suffering. Clinical examples will illustrate the process of destruction as well as the process of healing, both enabled by attachment.

Adah Sachs PhD is an attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist and a member of the Bowlby Centre. She has worked for decades with adults and adolescents in psychiatric care, as consultant psychotherapist at the Clinic for Dissociative Studies and as head of psychotherapy for one of the London boroughs, now retired. Adah lectures, assesses and supervises worldwide on trauma, dissociation and attachment. Among her publications on these topics are numerous book chapters, journal articles, a co-edited special issue of the JTD (The Abused and the Abuser: Victim-Perpetrator Dynamics, 2017), three co-edited books (2008, 2018, 2023) and one in print.

Exploring Our Many Facets Through SoulCollage (C) – Patricia Quinn
SoulCollage (C) was developed by Seena Frost to explore the different aspects of ourselves and of our lives. It’s popularity has spread worldwide, with in-person and online groups and conferences, because of its appeal and elevation of our inner awareness of ourselves and our world. This simple, poetic exercise of our creativity touches our authentic self/selves and contributes to a sense of community and wellbeing. After selecting and composing images that honor these aspects of ourselves we are then invited to let the image “speak” for itself. This can be done in journaling in the chat, or aloud.
Participants can gather photographic images that attract them before the meeting. All that is needed then are your journal, 5×8 inch pieces of cardboard, glue stick, scissors, and a surface to cut and paste on. In SC any and all parts are welcomed and appreciated to be depicted and fathomed. The 90-minute workshop will include an introduction to SC, an example of card making and time to create and share your cards. To learn more you can research online about SoulCollage.

Patricia Quinn MS, ATR-BC, LCAT, NBCCH is an artist and art therapist in private practice in Orange, NY who worked as an addiction clinician and prevention director and supervisor for 23 years. She has taught courses in art therapy, both graduate and undergraduate, for 30 years, including courses based on her book Art Therapy in the Treatment of Addiction and Trauma (Jessica Kingsley 2021). She is currently writing a book on the Neuroscience of Art Therapy for Addiction and Trauma. She served for 3 years as president of the Mental Health Association of Orange County, NY., as chair of the Historical Archives and Affairs Committee of AATA, as a delegate and chair of the Governmental Affairs Committee of NYATA, and on the Community Services Board of the Department of Mental Health in Orange County, NY. She is a SoulCollage facilitator.

Musical Performance and Sharing About Why His Songs Were Written – Michael Skinner
Michael Skinner will perform and share about why the songs being shared were written. He uses his music for healing and in speaking out as an advocate addressing the concerns of trauma, abuse and mental health. Music and the creative arts in all of their forms are helpful for everyone in their healing journey. Michael believes that everyone is creative in their own unique way and learning to recognize this is a crucial component for healing from the long term impacts of trauma.

Michael Skinner is an award-winning advocate, educator, writer and critically acclaimed singer, songwriter, guitarist, addressing the issues of trauma, abuse and mental health concerns through public speaking, writing and his music. He has spoken at the National Press Club, was a keynote presenter for a conference held by the United Nations, The State Department and Georgetown University on the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children and adults and he was part of the groundbreaking Oprah Winfrey Shows that addressed the issues of males sexually abused as children.

His role as a consultant and trainer for the Federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors has been crucial in helping to shape the policy initiatives and directives for the delivery and implementation of trauma informed care and services. And he has worked with organizations nationwide to address the stigma of mental health and ending the silence of child abuse and suicide.

Michael is also the founder and director of The Surviving Spirit; a monthly newsletter and website sharing resources to help those impacted by trauma, abuse and mental health challenges.

The conference is sponsored by S.M.A.R.T., a newsletter that examines the possible connections between ritual abuse and secretive organizations. SMARTNEWS@aol.com http://ritualabuse.us/

Our conference is co-sponsored by Survivorship. Survivorship is one of the oldest and most respected organizations supporting survivors of extreme child abuse, including sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. Survivorship provides resources, healing, and community for survivors; training and education for professionals who may serve survivors; and support for survivors’ partners and other allies. https://survivorship.org

Please note: None of the material on these pages or at the conference is meant as therapy, or to take the place of therapy.

Larry Nassar’s victims reach $138.7 million settlement over botched FBI probe
This settlement between the victims and the Department of Justice resolves 139 claims, authorities said. April 23, 2024 By Chelsea Damberg and David K. Li
The Department of Justice agreed to pay more than $138 million to victims of disgraced sports physician Larry Nassar and apologized for the FBI failing to act on warnings about the convicted sex abuser, officials said Tuesday.
The “FBI failed to conduct an adequate investigation of Nassar’s conduct,” Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said in announcing the $138.7 million settlement.

“For decades, Lawrence Nassar abused his position, betraying the trust of those under his care and medical supervision while skirting accountability,” Mizer said. “These allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset. While these settlements won’t undo the harm Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will help give the victims of his crimes some of the critical support they need to continue healing.”

It was reported last week that the Justice Department was expected to pay around $100 million.
The announcement culminated several years of internal probes which concluded that FBI agents in Indianapolis made “fundamental errors” by failing to notify other FBI offices or state or local authorities about Nassar.
A 2021 report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz blasted Indianapolis-based agents, saying officials at that field office “did not take responsibility for their failures” and instead “provided incomplete and inaccurate information to make it appear that they had been diligent in responding to the sexual abuse allegations.”

Tuesday’s deal is the latest in a string of civil settlements acknowledging institutional failures when victims first raised red flags about Nassar.
Sex abuse survivors reach $380M deal in Larry Nassar case
Michigan State University, where Nassar worked, agreed to pay $500 million in 2018 to women and girls who were assaulted by him.
USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee reached a $380 million deal with victims in 2021.

The settlement announced on Tuesday will resolve 139 claims made against the FBI, according to the DOJ.
Attorneys Megan Bonanni and Michael Pitt, who represent 77 of those 139 claimants, said the settlement will hold “the DOJ and FBI accountable for their failures.”

“The FBI fundamentally failed to protect hundreds of women and girls from sexual abuse through inaction and total mishandling of their Larry Nassar investigation,” the attorneys said in a statement. “We hope this serves as a lesson for federal law enforcement and they make the changes necessary to prevent anything like this from happening again.” ….

He pleaded guilty in 2017 to federal charges stemming from his handling of thousands of images of child pornography, leading to his 60-year-prison sentence that he’s serving in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
In 2018, a judge in Ingham Court, Michigan, sentenced Nassar to 40 to 175 years in prison for molesting young girls under the guise of treatment. Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told Nassar at his sentencing: “I just signed your death warrant.”
Also in 2018, a judge in Eaton County sentenced him to 40 to 125 years behind bars on charges connected to his sex abuse of women and girls during supposed medical treatments.

More than 265 patients have said Nassar molested them, including USA Gymnastics national team stars McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Sabrina Vega, Ashton Locklear, Kyla Ross, Simone Biles and Alyssa Baumann.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/larry-nassars-victims-reach-1387-million-settlement-botched-fbi-probe-rcna148990

Shattered by Montreal Mind-Control Experiments, but Undeterred in a Suit
Families of patients in a Cold War-era mind-control experiment in Montreal are pressing forward after a recent setback in their class-action lawsuit.
By Vjosa Isai June 15, 2024

Every weekend was an adventure for Julie Tanny when she was a young girl.
Her father, Charles, made sure of it, surprising his three children with trips and visits to the amusement park….
Everything changed in the winter of 1957. A tooth filling gone awry spurred an excruciating neurological condition that stumped five of his doctors. They referred him to the Allan Memorial Institute, a psychiatric hospital at McGill University in Montreal, where he was admitted for three months of treatment.
When Ms. Tanny’s father was released, the man who came home was distant, irate, confused and physically abusive. He did not remember that he owned a snowblower business. He was barely able to recognize his family. It was as though his brain had been reprogrammed.

As Ms. Tanny would later learn, it largely was. Her father had unknowingly become a patient of Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron, a psychiatrist running a secret mind-control experiment claimed to be funded by the Central Intelligence Agency as part of a Cold War-era program known as MK-ULTRA.
“He was like a shell of what he was before,” Ms. Tanny, a retired wholesale jeweler, said. “He was just a completely different person.”

Ms. Tanny, 70, is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed in 2019 against the institutions linked to the experiment and the Canadian and United States governments. About 400 people, mostly families of former patients who were treated at the clinic between 1948 and 1964, have joined the effort, she said.
But their legal battle was recently dealt a setback. A Quebec judge approved a request by the United States to dismiss the case against it, arguing that foreign states are immune from the jurisdiction of Canadian courts. The ruling was upheld in the province’s court of appeal.

Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected a request for appeal, meaning that the case against the United States is dismissed but will proceed against the Canadian government, McGill University Health Center and its associated Royal Victoria Hospital.
Dr. Cameron’s experiments included intensive electroshock therapy, drug-induced comas, sensory deprivation and a regimen of powerful medications to alter nerve function, according to the claim. These methods led to the erasure of thoughts and changed behavior patterns, rendering patients childlike. Some had to relearn how to use the bathroom after losing the ability to control their bladders.

Some patients, according to the claim, were forced to listen up to 500,000 times to a looped audio tape of phrases intended to rewire their brains: “You are selfish” or “My mother hates me” or “You are lovable.”
The families of patients argue that these treatments were a form of psychological torture that the patients did not consent to.

The fallout of Dr. Cameron’s experiments shattered the lives of families and traumatized patients, said Jeff Orenstein, the class-action lawyer.
“They just came out sort of robots, robotlike,” he said.
The United States and Canadian governments compensated some victims as the extent of the “Montreal Experiments” came to light, but their families were not, the claim said. Ms. Tanny’s father received 100,000 Canadian dollars, an amount she said hardly reflected the true cost of his mental, and then physical, lapse.
He had two massive heart attacks, which Ms. Tanny believes were a direct aftermath of the electroshock therapy, and a stroke that left him debilitated. He required round-the-clock care, and Ms. Tanny’s brother abandoned his young career in law to take over their father’s business….

Neither government nor the hospitals or McGill University has formally apologized for their participation, the claim says.
The case has been widely covered in Canada, but most families of victims are still reluctant to speak publicly about it, Ms. Tanny said. Others have detailed harrowing stories of abuse, cycling between foster homes after losing parents to the experiment and having to fight for answers.
Ms. Tanny decided to file the action after reading, in 2017, about the case of another daughter of a brainwashing patient, who quietly reached a settlement with the government. Ms. Tanny’s father died in 1993. After his stroke at the age of 60, he couldn’t write, speak or walk for the remaining 18 years of his life, she said….  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/15/world/canada/montreal-mind-control-experiments.html

Survivors of abuse at Missouri’s Christian boarding schools demand the state ‘do something’ KSMU By Gregory Holman May 15, 2024

Three women who say they experienced abuse at religious boarding schools in Missouri staged a demonstration this week in Springfield. Survivors have called on the state attorney general to investigate the private facilities. Aralysa Baker, Maggie Drew and Amanda Householder all attended Christian boarding schools in the state of Missouri. And all three posted up in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Springfield on Tuesday. They were there to argue that religious boarding schools in the Show-Me State operate in what they see as a lightly regulated environment that’s ripe for adults to abuse students.

Checking state and federal court records, KSMU found at least 23 civil lawsuits related to accusations of boarding school abuse, all filed since 2022 against just two Christian boarding schools in southwest Missouri. Each has been extensively covered in the news for allegations of physical, emotional and sexual child abuse: Agape Boarding School in Stockton and Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Humansville. Both schools are now reportedly closed. But they’re not the only Missouri boarding schools to attract scrutiny….
Baker’s school was ABM Ministries Lighthouse Christian Academy in Wayne County. It’s now closed. The married owners, Larry and Carmen Musgrave, were arrested two months ago on kidnapping charges. Preliminary hearings in their cases are expected next month. KSMU left messages with their attorney Tuesday evening.

Maggie Drew….”I was sent to Circle of Hope Girls Ranch and boarding school October 28, 2007,” Drew said. “I was stuck there until I was nearly 21, almost 21 years old. I was six months shy of turning 21 before I finally escaped and found some sense of normality. It took a long time for me to finally gain traction as far as anybody listening about Circle of Hope, and that was severely devastating for me — as it was severely abusive and traumatic for all of us that were there.”
In front of a handful of southwest Missouri news reporters at the Tuesday demonstration, 33-year-old Amanda Householder opened up as well. She now lives in California but — like Drew — she formerly lived on the campus of Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Humansville.

Unlike Drew, Householder’s parents owned the school. She sued Boyd and Stephanie Householder two years ago. In court papers, Amanda Householder alleged her parents made her perform forced labor, beat her for their own sexual gratification and forced her to punish other Circle of Hope students.
She said her lawsuit has now been resolved. “I stand here still to this day, feeling like I’m asking the state of Missouri to do something, because […] myself and many others have basically lost our childhood to the state,” she said.
Circle of Hope Girls Ranch closed in 2020 after Amanda Householder started spreading the word about abuse allegations online. This October, Householder’s parents will go to trial on 99 felony charges and 1 misdemeanor.

Authorities suspect they committed offenses including child molestation, statutory sodomy, sexual contact with a student and endangering the welfare of a child in a ritual or ceremony. KSMU left messages with their attorney Tuesday evening. https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-05-15/survivors-of-abuse-at-missouris-christian-boarding-schools-demand-the-state-do-something

Utah County ‘ritualistic’ sex abuse case is in limbo A recent Court of Appeals order means there’s no prosecutor right now to handle the controversial and high-profile case. By Jessica Miller May 21, 2024

No one wants to prosecute a high-profile “ritualistic” sex abuse case except Utah County. And now that Utah County has been banned for a second time from handling it, the controversial prosecution is in indefinite limbo.
The case first came to light via a startling 2022 announcement by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office that it was investigating a “ritualistic” sex abuse ring. Then-Utah County Attorney David Leavitt denounced the move, arguing his detractors were trying to damage his chances for reelection by dredging up a years-old, unverified witness statement that accused Leavitt and 14 others of “cannibalizing young children” and participating in a “ritualistic” sex ring.
Sheriff Mike Smith denied the accusation of political meddling. But after the bizarre allegations hung over the final weeks of the race, Leavitt lost to current Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray. Gray now wants to prosecute the only two people who were eventually charged: Former therapist David Hamblin and his ex-wife, Roselle Stevenson.

But Hamblin’s defense attorney has theorized in court papers that the investigation was politically motivated. That contention, paired with an audio recording where a sheriff’s investigator can be heard telling Stevenson that the office was hoping to withhold certain evidence in Hamblin’s case, concerned 4th District Judge Roger W. Griffin enough that he agreed there could be a conflict of interest and ruled Utah County can’t handle the case.
Gray’s office tried to appeal Griffin’s decision, but the Utah Court of Appeals didn’t want to hear it. In a brief two-sentence order published earlier this month, the judges denied the county attorney’s petition asking for permission to bring arguments to their court….

Hamblin and his ex-wife had also been named in the statement that accused Leavitt. Hamblin currently faces felony charges in two counties: In Utah County, he and his ex-wife are accused of sexually abusing a girl in the 1980s who lived near them at the time, when Leavitt was the couple’s neighbor. In Sanpete County, Hamblin is charged with allegedly sexually abusing a young boy who was his patient…. https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2024/05/21/utah-county-ritualistic-sex-abuse/

Sex Abuse Lawsuits Against LDS Church by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.
On this page, our lawyers will discuss sexual abuse lawsuits against the Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). We will explain the legal requirements for bringing a sex abuse lawsuit against churches….

LDS Church Sex Abuse News & Updates:
June 7, 2024 – LDS Leader Won’t Be Charged With Failure to Report Abuse
The Dauphin County District Attorney’s office publicly announced today that they will not be pursuing criminal charges against LDS church leader Rhett Hintze for failing to report child sex abuse allegations made against a fellow church leader. Hintze was accused of having knowledge of specific acts of sexual abuse committed by a fellow LDS member, but neglecting to report it to the police.

March 15, 2024 – New Law on Mandatory Reporting
The debate continues over whether a new bill awaiting Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s signature adequately protects children from abuse, as experts remain divided on mandated reporting for clergy. HB432 shields faith leaders from civil or criminal liability if they report ongoing child abuse disclosed during a confession but does not require them to do so. This bill promotes opportunities to intervene in abuse cases, but the problem is it does not fully address the need for mandatory reporting to protect children.
This is all a reaction to some high-profile sex abuse cases, including a woman whose case was dropped after her abuser’s bishop declined to testify due to fear of legal repercussions. The woman believes the bill could encourage clergy to report abuse without fear of retribution and hopes it will lead to broader changes in handling child sex abuse within the LDS Church and beyond. Meanwhile, a similar bill failed to advance, highlighting ongoing legislative challenges in addressing clergy reporting requirements.

January 5, 2024 – How the LDS Church Suppresses Sex Abuse Claims
In 2017, an attorney from the LDS Church’s Risk Management Division met with a woman and her mother after she disclosed that her father, a former bishop, had sexually abused her as a child.
Audio recordings of these meetings reveal how the attorney while expressing concern, discouraged a lay bishop from testifying against the father by citing clergy-penitent privilege laws. This legal strategy led to the dismissal of the charges against the father, despite his confession to the bishop. The church then offered the woman and her mother $300,000 in exchange for a confidentiality agreement and the destruction of their recordings.
Despite the church’s attempts to manage the situation internally, the woman and her mother recorded multiple conversations with the father, and he admitted the awful things he had done.
These recordings were handed over to the police, leading to the father’s arrest. So far, so good. But without the bishop’s testimony, the prosecution could not proceed, and the father faced minimal consequences. The case highlights the church’s practice of using legal strategies and nondisclosure agreements to handle allegations of child sex abuse internally at the expense of justice and transparency.

December 15, 2023 – Recordings Reveal Sex Abuse Cover Up By Church
Several news outlets, including PBS, are reporting that audio recordings obtained by the Associated Press reveal how the LDS Church, with the help of a Salt Lake City attorney, concealed evidence of sexual abuse by a prominent church member. The story highlights how the LDS Church employed a “risk management” strategy in response to evidence of sexual abuse, rather than reporting the evidence to the police.
https://www.lawsuit-information-center.com/sex-abuse-lawsuits-against-lds-church.html

Jury convicts West Jordan man of 25 sex-related crimes spanning over 10 years by Derick Fox Feb 16, 2024
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A jury found a West Jordan man guilty of 25 sex-related felonies, including aggravated sexual abuse of a child and rape in a ritual abuse case spanning over a decade.

Jamison Smith, 49, of West Jordan was found guilty on one count of first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child, one count of first-degree felony object rape, six counts of first-degree felony forcible sodomy, 12 counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse and five counts of first-degree felony rape, according to the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.
“Preying on children is an abhorrent and depraved crime and we appreciate the jury finding Mr. Smith guilty of all counts for his despicable behavior,” said SLCo District Attorney Sim Gill. “This conviction will help to deliver justice to the survivor of Mr. Smith’s crimes.”

Smith was indicted in 2022 over the allegations of sexual abuse that began in 2009 and ended in 2021. Charging documents details of routine sexual abuse with the victim telling police that she thought it was normal and she didn’t know otherwise.
According to court documents, investigators found that Smith had an attraction to children and a history of spying through neighbors’ windows to see if he could see children undressing….
https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/jury-convicts-west-jordan-man-of-25-sex-related-crimes-spanning-over-10-years/

June 24, 2024 · Filed Under Newsletter 2024 - Issue 174 - 179