Paul Rytting had been director of the Risk Management Division at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for around 15 years when a 31-year-old church member told him that her father, a former bishop, had sexually abused her when she was a toddler.
Rytting flew from church headquarters in Salt Lake City to Hailey, Idaho, to satisfy with Chelsea Goodrich and her mother, Lorraine, to debate what he said was a “tragic and horrendous” story.
By that point, Chelsea’s father, John Goodrich, had made a non secular confession to a bishop with the church, widely generally known as the Mormon church, with details of his relationship along with his daughter. Following church policy, Bishop Michael Miller had called a church Helpline, established to take calls from bishops about sexual abuse, and John Goodrich was quickly excommunicated.
After the excommunication, Chelsea and Lorraine reported Chelsea’s claims of abuse to Mountain Home, Idaho, police. They backed up their accusations with recordings of conversations with John Goodrich through which he admitted to climbing into bed along with his daughter when he was sexually aroused, though he insisted there was no direct sexual contact. Nevertheless, Mountain Home police arrested him and charged him with a wide range of sex crimes.
At their meeting with Rytting, Chelsea and her mother had one overarching query: Would the church allow Miller to testify at John Goodrich’s criminal trial?
Over the following 4 months, during multiple conversations, Rytting told Chelsea, Lorraine and Eric Alberdi, a fellow church member acting as Chelsea’s advocate, that a state law generally known as the clergy-penitent privilege prevented Miller from testifying without the consent of the alleged perpetrator, John Goodrich. Without Miller’s testimony, prosecutors dropped their case.
Next, Rytting offered Chelsea and her mother $300,000 on the condition that they comply with not use Chelsea’s story as the premise for a lawsuit against the church — and to never acknowledge the existence of this nondisclosure agreement.
Today, Goodrich, who didn’t reply to questions from the AP, stays a free man practicing dentistry, with access to children.
The Mormon church, in comments to the AP, said, “the abuse of a toddler or every other individual is inexcusable.” The church also noted that Miller wouldn’t give you the chance to testify without the permission of Goodrich, and that the confidentiality agreement with Chelsea and Lorraine didn’t preclude Chelsea from telling her story.
All the conversations with Rytting, Chelsea, Lorraine, and Alberdi were recorded, and provided by Alberdi to The Associated Press.
Takeaways from the AP’s investigation:
THE CLERGY-PENITENT PRIVILEGE
An earlier investigation by the AP revealed that greater than half the states maintain the clergy-penitent privilege, which provides a loophole for clergy who’re otherwise required to report child sex abuse to police or local welfare officials. As a result, some child predators who reveal their crimes to clergy in a confessional setting and don’t turn themselves in to police are allowed to stay free, in a position to proceed abusing children while presenting a danger to others.
Although child welfare advocates have attempted to alter or eliminate the privilege, the AP found that lobbying by religious institutions including the Catholic Church, the Mormon church, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses have persuaded state legislators throughout the country to keep up the loophole. Indeed, the AP catalogued greater than 100 attempts to amend or eliminate the privilege, all of which failed.
NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS
Nondisclosure agreements, also generally known as confidentiality agreements, have been used incessantly by the Mormon church and other organizations, including the Catholic Church, in addition to individuals, to maintain sex abuse allegations secret. Twenty-one years ago, the Catholic Church approved a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People through which it pledged to eliminate using confidentiality agreements to settle child sex abuse claims, except in cases where the victims requested anonymity – a recognition of the role NDAs play within the cover-up of kid sexual abuse. The Mormon church doesn’t have an analogous policy.
THE HELPLINE
The earlier AP investigation found that the Helpline plays a central role within the cover-up of kid sex abuse within the Mormon church, at the same time as the church claims its purpose is to offer bishops with guidance about sexual abuse reporting requirements. Initiated in 1995, when financial claims for sexual abuse against religious institutions were on the rise, the Helpline fields calls from bishops about child sexual abuse and directs essentially the most serious cases to attorneys with the firm of Kirton McConkie, which represents the church.
According to the church, all details about child sexual abuse passed from church members to their bishops is confidential under the clergy-penitent privilege, and all information passed from the Helpline to church attorneys is confidential under the attorney-client privilege. Meanwhile, Rytting and other church officials have said in sworn testimony that the Helpline either keeps no records or destroys all records at the tip of every day.
Or does it? During his conversations with Chelsea and Lorraine, Rytting said he could discover whether John Goodrich had previously “repented” for his relationship with Chelsea by checking Helpline records, seeming to contradict his sworn testimony in one other child sex abuse case against the church.
In its comments to the AP, the church declined to reply questions on the apparent contradiction.
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Rezendes reported from New York.
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Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/suggestions/
