Black Collar Crime Catch-Up 2010, Part 8: All Mormon Edition
George Patrick Lee • Stephen R. Young
We’re still catching up with the Conservative Babylon Class of 2010 — some we covered previously, some Babylonians we missed entirely, but all of whom deserve recognition (read: exposure) as holier-than-thou right-wingers who can’t seem to live up to the impossible “family values” standards they demand of everyone else. (No, we don’t know how many parts there will be to our catch-up.) In no particular order…
And They Were Sooo Ready to Blame Teh Gheyz: When arson fires burned two Mormon meetinghouses in Salt Lake City in October, Mormon apologists were quick to blame the gay community; typical was a comment at the Mormon Apologetics & Discussion Board attempting to tie the arsonist to “an extreme terroristic style Gay and Lesbian group who are very militant and brag about vandalism and destroying LDS Church Property,” and another at LDS Freedom Forum stating that “the Catholics have been targeted by the gays for years and so it is not new. The homosexual activists will go after those who do not conform to their ideal — however, they will not mess with Muslims because they are afraid of them and they will not mess with Orthodox Jews because it would make them look anti-Semite [sic] in the press.” And then there were the outright , unfounded accusations such as this comment at the Salt Lake Tribune: “Patrick Ehat is gay and said he did it as revenge. Why does the trib edit this out?” Never mind that Patrick Ehat, Brigham Young University student and Mormon priest who served his two-year mission in Brazil, reportedly told police he set the fires “because he ‘believed the LDS Church had lied to him’” after he was arrested and charged with two counts each of arson, criminal mischief and burglary in connection with the fires. And never mind that it was Ehat’s girlfriend who tipped off Ehat’s father (who then convinced Ehat to turn himself in).
It’s Hard to Hate a Guy Who Voted for Domestic Partner Benefits, But… As long as that guy is a Republican and a Mormon, he’s enabling the two most influential and deep-pocketed anti-gay powerhouses in the United States this side of the Catholic church — and while we don’t hate Kevin Garn, we sure do think he’s a slimeball. Republican, Mormon bishop & Sunday school teacher, and the former majority leader of the Utah House of Representatives, Garn surprised everybody (and not in a good way) when he suddenly resigned on March 13, 2010, after ‘fessing up about an incident when he was 28 years old, and shared a hot tub with a 15-year-old girl (yep, another Mormon) — who says he sexually molested her. But, wait! There’s more! In 2002, Garn ponied up $150,000 in hush money to keep the kid’s mouth shut — except the kid was no longer a kid, but a grown woman threatening to take the story public during Garn’s failed bid for the U.S. House. And that was the end of Garn’s political career. Oh, except that when all this was coming out in 2010, it came to light that Garn had been busted on a DUI in 2006 (what is it with these Mormons who know they’re going straight to hell if they drink booze?); he eventually pleaded guilty, and was given a year’s probation and a $900 fine… and all this happened while he was serving as a state lawmaker. Now, for the fun part — just watch the looks on the faces of his fellow legislators as he makes his confession:
So, A Whole Charity Goes Down the Tubes: Village of Hope was a Heber, Utah-based non-profit formed in 1994 with the purpose of aiding Ethiopian children. In March of 2010, its then-68-year-old founder, Mormon bishop Lon Harvey Kennard, Sr., was charged with 47 felony counts, including aggravated sexual abuse of a child, sexual exploitation of a minor, forcible sodomy and witness tampering, all involving the alleged sexual abuse of six children Kennard and his wife DeAnna adopted from Ethiopia (in addition to the six biological children they already had). A couple of days after Kennard’s arrest, his wife filed for divorce; it sounds like the rest of the family believes Kennard is guilty, too. On top of all this, Village of Hope was forced to suspend operations, due in part to Kennard’s alleged crimes, and in part to trouble with the IRS. Last we heard, Village of Hope was still shut down, and, in October, Kennard — who has been crying too poor to hire his own lawyer — had been ordered to find representation.
But Did He Turn “White and Delightsome” After Death? July 28, 2010, marked the death of 67-year-old George Patrick Lee, after more than a decade in relative obscurity (or, at least, the kind of obscurity the Mormon church hoped for). The first — and, so far, only — Native American General Authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the first general authority to be excommunicated from the church since the early 1940s, this “cursed” “Lamanite” was tossed for “heresy” and “conduct unbecoming a member of the church,” shorthand for: He admitted to sexual abuse of a child, after which his wife divorced him. (What’s a “General Authority? The Mormon Curtain explains: “Members of the LDS Church that rise past the rank of Stake President are considered General Authorities. They leave their current jobs and work for the LDS Church full time. In exchange, the LDS Church provides them a full salary and often lavish living expenses. Those who rise to the rank of Apostle must sell any business they own and renounce any board of directors for companies that are not directly
Mormon Cover-Up? As reported on The Lavender Newswire, Boise cop and Mormon (which makes him a Mormon “priest”) Stephen R. Young confessed to sexually molesting babies — and goodness knows exactly how many: The Idaho Statesman noted that “the day before his sentencing hearing” Young admitted “to molesting four additional children investigators did not know about.” But what’s worse (in our book, anyway), is this: “For two months, fifteen people knew that Young, a Boise cop, had been sexually molesting babies — yes, babies: infants and toddlers — for some 30 years. Nobody turned him in. And nobody’s going to be punished for giving him cover because his church — the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — cannot be charged under Idaho’s ‘clergy privilege law,’ which extends to Mormon lay bishops and stake presidents.” We don’t know who is more disgusting and deserving of disdain: Young, or his Mormons cronies who protected and enabled him.
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