A lawsuit alleges people within the Mormon church knew a father was sexually abusing his daughters, but failed to report the abuse to authorities several years ago in Bisbee, Ariz.

In court documents filed with the Cochise County Superior Court, Paul Adams admittedly committed sexual, physical, and emotional abuse of his daughters between their ages of six weeks and 12 years old. The church sex abuse case shocked the nation.

Top Class Actions reports on class action and other legal news, including cases about sexual abuse. This article is about an individual lawsuit and not a class action suit.

For seven years, Adams allegedly raped his children and made videotapes of the horrific and repeated sexual assaults that he posted on the internet. He also allegedly received counseling from Mormon church leaders who knew details of the abuse but did not report the crimes to local authorities.

“The Mormon Church leaders gave guidance and care to these children for seven (7) years, sat next to them in church and allowed these vicious crimes to continue,” the lawsuit against the Mormon church explains.

Adams committed suicide in 2017 by hanging himself in a prison cell. He had been indicted on 11 counts of child sexual abuse.

In 2018, the children’s mother, Leizza Adams, received a child abuse conviction and served a sentence at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Perryville. She was released in October.

Lawsuit Allegations

The Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church, former bishop of the Bisbee Ward John Herrod, and current bishop Robert Kim Mauzy, and Shaunice Warr are all named defendants in the lawsuit.

Herrod led as bishop in Bisbee during the years 2009 to 2012, at which point Mauzy began his reign. Herrod was also the family doctor for the Adams family.

Warr had worked with Paul Adams when they were both employed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. She also was a Mormon church member who visited the Adams family as part of the Relief Society, a group of adult Mormon women who provide ministering, leadership, and teachings to other women within the church.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants failed to follow the state’s mandatory reporting law when they learned that Paul Adams had been sexually assaulting his children.

The church has tried to insist that confessions are confidential, but the lawsuit says a variety of discussions took place that was not part of any confession.

“Each of the Defendants had personal observations of the abuse, and also knew of the abuse outside of any confidential communication,” the lawsuit alleges.

Former Bishop Accused of Sexual Abuse

The Mormon church is facing another lawsuit over allegations the religious organization failed to protect two young sisters from sexual abuse.

Bishop Joseph Neipp was bishop for the San Jose Branham Ward in south San Jose when the allegedly sexually abused sisters identified as Jane Doe and Jane Doe 2 in court papers.

The lawsuit alleges the Mormon church knew that Neipp, 72, was a threat as far back as 2009 or 2010 when a parent said she had to file a restraining order against Neipp. At that time, the Branham Ward mother told church leaders that Neipp allegedly had been stalking her and her children.

Even though the Mormon church responded by excommunicating Neipp and having him no longer serve as a bishop, the man’s fall from grace was not communicated to fellow parishioners. As a result, members of the church had no reason to believe Neipp was a danger to their families, according to the lawsuit filed against the bishop.

Jane Doe purportedly was abused from 2009 to 2016, and Jane Doe 2 allegedly suffered the same abuse from 2012 to 2016.

The lawsuit accuses Neipp of using “inappropriate grooming behavior with children during Primary classes and on or around ward events, including allowing small children to sit on his lap, and transporting plaintiffs and other young children alone in his vehicle to ward activities.”

The lawsuit alleges that Neipp was considered particularly trustworthy because the congregation is told that God chooses each Mormon bishop.