Utah rep. told Mormon bishop not to report abuse, docs show

By MICHAEL REZENDES and JASON DEAREN
Associated Press

A Utah lawmaker and prominent attorney for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints advised a church bishop not to report a confession of child sex abuse to authorities, a decision that allowed the abuse to continue for years, according to records filed in a lawsuit. The two pages of records from a log of calls fielded by a law firm representing the church and the deposition of a church official show that Utah Republican State Rep. Merrill F. Nelson took the initial call from a bishop reporting that church member Paul Adams had sexually abused his daughters. The records show that Nelson also had multiple conversations over a two-year span with two bishops who knew of the abuse.