Press
Utah woman to sue LDS Church using California law that helps child sex assault survivors
10-16-2019 | KJZZ
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Kristy Johnson, now a resident of Utah, is preparing to sue The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints under a newly-passed California law designed to help adults who were sexually assaulted as children.
California Assembly Bill 218 becomes law in 2020.
Unlike Utah law, which allows adults who were victimized as children to sue perpetrators as individuals, the California law also allows victims to sue entities and institutions that covered up the sexual assault or allowed it to happen when they had the power to stop it.
Click HERE to read the full article.
Episode 593 - No Crime in Sin: An Interview with the Fearless Kristy Johnson
9-12-2019 | Infants on Thrones
Glenn and Tom sit down with Kristy Johnson to discuss her documentary “No Crime in Sin,” which tells the story of Kristy’s sexual abuse at the hands of her CES Leader and BYU Teacher father; how the Mormon church swept it all under the rug; how Kristy and two of her siblings confronted their father 30 years after the fact, and what this has all meant for Kristy and her siblings today. Kristy shares her healing process and how it now feels to live a life free of fear.
“No Crime in Sin” is streaming now on Amazon Prime.
Episode 42 - No Crime in Sin Interview with Kristy Johnson
9-8-2019 | Latter Day Lesbian Podcast
Hey everybody, this episode features our much anticipated interview with abuse survivor, Kristy Johnson. Her documentary, No Crime in Sin addresses the sexual abuse Kristy and her siblings underwent growing up in their ultra Mormon household. We hope you tune in for the interview, and we also encourage you to check out this life-changing film now playing on Amazon Prime Video.
Music provided by Purple Planet: https://www.purple-planet.com
Should Clergy Be Required to Report Abusers Who Confess?
8-5-2019 | Mother Jones
Kristy Johnson was 6 years old in 1969, when her father, an educator employed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, began sexually abusing her at their home in Utah. Her mother discovered what was happening and sought help from their local Mormon bishop. But according to a civil lawsuit Johnson filed against her father last year, the bishop did not contact police, instead handling the abuse “as a matter of sin, only.”
The same thing happened each time the abuse was reported to church leaders, according to Johnson’s complaint. One bishop instructed her father to “clean up his act,” she tells me. Her father was reassigned to different towns. And the church never called the cops, the lawsuit alleges. “They didn’t want the word to get out, because of who my father was,” Johnson says. “Because it would make the church look bad. That was their main concern.”
Click HERE to read the full article.
Premiere Recap
7-15-2019 | NO CRIME IN SIN
‘No Crime in Sin,’ which documents a Utah family’s struggle with sex abuse, premieres Thursday
6-20-2019 | Fox13
SALT LAKE CITY -- A documentary discussing a family's experience with child sex abuse and the alleged cover-up by local leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints premiers Thursday night in Salt Lake City.
Kristy Johnson said her father, Melvin Johnson, started abusing her when she was six.
“This is how old I was when he first started molesting me in Ogden," Johnson says in the "No Crime in Sin" documentary. "That's my kindergarten picture."
Johnson said her father held several prominent positions within the LDS Church, serving as a seminary teacher and a BYU professor, all while abusing her and her younger sisters.
Click HERE to read the full article.
Candid Interview with Kristy Johnson
6-19-2019 | Facebook
Documentary following two Utah sisters confronting father about sexual abuse to premiere this week
6-18-2019 | ABC4
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 News) – It’s a story about trauma, healing, and closure – a documentary premiering this Thursday follows two Utah sisters as they confront their father about sexually abusing them for years when they were children.
At the center of ‘No Crime in Sin’ are Kristy and Kathy Johnson, who describe surviving the horrific and recurring abuse by their father, Melvin Johnson – a respected member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Click HERE to read the full article.
'No Crime in Sin': Utah woman confronts father about sex abuse in documentary film
6-12-2019 | KUTV
(KUTV) — Kristy Johnson recently settled a civil lawsuit she filed against her father. She says he abused her for years, starting when she was six years old. Now, she’s taken her newfound power a step further — confronting her father about the abuse in a documentary film that premieres in Salt Lake City next week.
“No Crime in Sin” premieres on June 20 at the Rose Wagner Theatre in Salt Lake City.
The screening starts at 7 p.m. and admission is $8.
Click HERE to read the full article.
NO CRIME IN SIN - Kristy Johnson
6-11-2019 | Heart of the Matter
What happens when ecclesiastical leaders fail to report child abuse?
4-25-2019 | ABC4
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 News) – Victims of childhood abuse say Utah’s mandatory report laws don’t go far enough in protecting children.
Utah is a mandatory report state, meaning that any adult who is aware of abuse happening to a child is legally required to report it, but there are a few exceptions.
When it comes to ecclesiastical leaders there are two exceptions:
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If the perpetrator confesses abuse of a child to their ecclesiastical leader, the leader is not required to report to law enforcement.
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If the dictates of the religion mandate that confessions not be shared, the leader is not required to report.
Click HERE to read the full article.
What Happens When Mormon Leaders Treat Child Sexual Abuse As A Sin, Not A Crime
7-16-2018 | KUER
Kristy Johnson says her father molested and raped her — along with her two sisters — throughout their teen and childhood years.
During much of that time, her father, Melvin Kay Johnson, was employed by the LDS Church as a full-time seminary and institute instructor, teaching religious education to Mormon teens and young adults.
But whenever she or her mother told their Mormon bishop about the abuse, the Church would transfer her father to a new job in a new city, Kristy Johnson, 55, said. Law enforcement, however, was not contacted.
“It never occured to me to go to the police," she said. "It never entered my mind because of being raised Mormon. These bishops and leaders are like God — they speak for God.”
Click HERE to read the full article.
Kristy Johnson: A Survivor in the News
7-3-2018 | Dr. Donna Bevan Lee
Last week, the Associated Press reported the story of Kristy Johnson, who is suing her father for sexually abusing her as a child. Melvin Kay Johnson, a well-respected Mormon educator, began assaulting his daughter when she was six years old and continued until she left home at eighteen. He inflicted the same abuse on her younger sisters, molesting his children with impunity for decades thanks to the protection of the Mormon church.
Kristy’s story is alarmingly familiar. After her father assaulted her regularly for most of her childhood, at 15, she reported the abuse to her bishop, who simply advised her father to “clean up his act.” When she and her sisters finally contacted police, church officials intervened to prevent her father’s arrest. What should have been a criminal case leading to a prison sentence was instead handled by a church court with no power beyond excommunication—and even that power it wielded with a gentle hand. Serial child abuser Melvin Kay Johnson didn’t lose his freedom; he simply lost his church membership, which was fully restored when the church welcomed him back after just a year. Kristy, however, was chastised for involving the police in a “church matter.”
Click HERE to read the full article.
Woman Claims Mormon Church’s Cover-Up Culture Protected Her Sexual Predator Dad
6-29-2018 | Huffpost
A woman who filed a child sexual abuse lawsuit against her father is claiming that Mormon church leaders knew about the abuse for years but failed to report it to the police.
Kristy Johnson, 55, went public with her allegations against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and her father, longtime church employee Melvin Kay Johnson, during a news conference in Salt Lake City on Thursday. She contends that the LDS church, while not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, was complicit in allowing her father’s abuse of her and her siblings to continue for years. The Mormon church has a “culture” that protects sexual predators, Johnson said during the press conference.
Click HERE to read the full article.
Woman claims LDS church leaders harbored her abusive father from law enforcement
6-29-2018 | ABC4
SALT LAKE CITY (News4Utah) – Kristy Johnson is suing her father civilly because she says he sexually abused her throughout her childhood. But she can’t sue the institution she says protected him from the legal consequences of his actions.
The civil statute of limitations was lifted by recent legislature in the case of childhood sexual abuse, but the law only refers to individuals, not institutions. Representative Angela Romero says, many are trying to change that. “We have laws in place where a perpetrator is held accountable for what they are doing, and if an institution is protecting that person or they’re not sharing the information they need to with law enforcement, they should be held accountable too.”
Click HERE to read the full article.
Father molested his children for years and Mormon bishops did not report it to police
6-28-2018 | Salt Lake Tribune
Kristy Johnson remembers the routine. Growing up, her father would take her to a basketball game at Brigham Young University, where he worked, and each time, after the final buzzer, they’d walk over to his office. There, she says, he would close the door, lock it and molest her for a few minutes.
They always went out for ice cream when he was done.
Johnson says she was 6 years old when it started. Now, 55, she says it’s time for him to be held accountable.
“The memories, the details, started coming back as I got older,” she said. “The anger is there and the courage grows in you.”
In a milestone case, Johnson filed suit Wednesday against her father, saying he groped her and her siblings for years while clergy from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints counseled the man, who was a church employee, but never informed police. The Mormon church, however, is not named a defendant.
Click HERE to read the full article.
Another Child Abuse Survivor Tells Mormons To Go To Police, Not Their Bishop
6-28-2018 | KUER
The documentary Glass Temples is having its Utah premier Thursday night. The film examines how leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mishandled yet another case of child abuse.
The subject of the film, Kristy Johnson, said her father molested and raped her and her two sisters while they were growing up. At the time, her father was employed by the LDS Church as a religious instructor and seminary teacher.
Johnson said each time she or her mother told a church leader about the abuse, her father would simply get transferred to a different city and the abuse would continue.
Click HERE to read the full article.
Woman says Mormon church failed to report dad’s sexual abuse
6-28-2018 | Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A woman who claims in a lawsuit that her father sexually abused her as a child said Thursday that Mormon church leaders allowed the sexual assault to continue by failing to report it to police.
Kristy Johnson said at a news conference that her now-deceased mother told local church leaders in Utah and California about the abuse multiple times during the 1960s and 1970s. Her father, Melvin Kay Johnson, a church employee who worked for the religious education arm of the faith, was relocated to different cities by the church after each report, but police were not contacted, she alleges in a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Utah.
Johnson, now 55 and living in La Habra, California, said she finally reported the abuse to police in California in 1986 when she returned from a Mormon mission. Her father was never arrested, but the church kicked him out. He was allowed back one year later after he went before a church court and persuaded them he had repented, the woman said.
Click HERE to read the full article.