By JASON DEAREN and MICHAEL REZENDES (Associated Press)
A former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who was part of an Associated Press investigation into the church's protection of itself against sexual abuse allegations, was taken into custody in Virginia. He was indicted on charges of sexually abusing his daughter while on a school trip many years ago, according to court documents.
Both the police and federal authorities were looking for John Goodrich after a grand jury in Williamsburg found enough evidence for four felonies, including rape, forcible sodomy, and two counts of felony aggravated sexual battery involving a child by a parent.
The charges were brought to light following the AP investigation, which revealed the church's use of a risk management playbook to keep child sexual abuse cases secret. The allegations involved the abuse of his daughter in their home in Idaho and on a school field trip to the Washington, D.C., area 20 years ago.
Chelsea Goodrich, the daughter, expressed hope that the case would bring justice for the sexual abuse she suffered as a child. She appreciated the seriousness with which Virginia is addressing the issue, compared to how the abuse was dealt with in Idaho.
A call to John Goodrich's cellphone went straight to voicemail. His defense attorney, Thomas Norment, declined to comment, stating that he was still getting acquainted with the case. The Williamsburg Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on Goodrich’s case.
Goodrich's arrest in Virginia occurred almost eight years after a previous arrest in Idaho on similar charges. The daughter and her mother reported various abuse allegations to the Idaho police in 2016.
The charges in Idaho were eventually dropped after a key witness, another Mormon bishop to whom John had made a confession, refused to testify. The church excommunicated Goodrich.
The AP's investigation included audio recordings of Chelsea's meetings with Paul Rytting, a Utah attorney who was head of the church’s Risk Management Division. Chelsea sought help in getting the bishop to testify about John's confession. Rytting expressed concern about John's actions but cited a legal loophole that prevented the bishop from testifying.
Chelsea sought help from Rytting to get the bishop to testify about John's confession. Rytting expressed concern for John's actions but said the bishop, similar to a Catholic priest, could not testify due to a legal loophole in Idaho's mandatory reporting law regarding clergy-penitent privilege.
Without that testimony, the prosecutors in Idaho decided to not pursue the earlier case.
Using the clergy privilege was just one part of the risk management playbook that Rytting used in the Goodrich matter. Rytting offered Chelsea and her mother $300,000 in exchange for a confidentiality agreement and a promise to delete their recordings of their meetings, which they had recorded on the advice of a lawyer and with Rytting’s knowledge. The AP obtained similar recordings made by a church member who attended the meetings as Chelsea’s advocate.
The church also utilized its so-called sex abuse Helpline, which John Goodrich’s bishop had contacted after his confession. As AP revealed in 2022, the Helpline is a phone number set up by the church for bishops to report cases of child sex abuse. Instead of linking church victims to counseling or other services, however, the Helpline often reports serious allegations of abuse to a church law firm.
In a statement to the AP for its recent investigation, the church said, “the abuse of a child or any other individual is inexcusable,” and that John Goodrich, following his excommunication, “has not been readmitted to church membership.”
News coverage of the Idaho case led to another alleged victim coming forward. After hearing about Chelsea’s allegations, a 53-year-old single mother accused him of having nonconsensual sex with her after giving her the drug Halcion, a controlled substance John Goodrich often used to sedate patients during dental procedures. She claimed that Goodrich drugged her the previous July after she ended a sexual relationship with him.
Ultimately, John Goodrich reached a plea agreement in that case and avoided being charged with sex crimes.
Chelsea Goodrich approached the AP with her story, she said, because her father remained free and practicing dentistry in Idaho with access to children.
On Tuesday, after authorities spent two weeks searching for him, Goodrich turned himself in to police in Williamsburg, a court official told Chelsea Goodrich, and he posted bond. He will be allowed to leave Virginia during legal proceedings, the court official said.
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Contact AP’s global investigative team at [email protected] or https://www.ap.org/tips/.
