Men allege church failed to protect against abuse

By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Kenneth Fleming of Kent and a second man who filed anonymously say they were sexually abused as boys in the late 1970s by Jack Loholt, formerly a priest in the local Kent ward of the Mormon church and a leader in a church-sponsored Boy Scout troop.

Calls to Loholt's home in Lac La Hache, B.C., were not answered.

Marcus Nash, a local attorney representing the Mormon church, said officials could not comment on the pending lawsuit other than to say the allegations would be vigorously contested.

Loholt was an ordained priest in the Mormon church, which has a lay clergy. Most males over the age of 12 and in good standing are ordained as deacons and become priests at 16. Bishops are selected from the local membership to serve as volunteers for about five years.

The suit, filed in King County Superior Court, accuses church leaders of receiving complaints about Loholt for years but never informing civil authorities or parents.

The lawsuit alleges that around 1970, Loholt's neighbors complained to a local church official that Loholt had masturbated in front of their 7-year-old son.

In the early 1970s, a local bishop temporarily removed Loholt from his position as assistant Scout master after church members in Kent complained that Loholt was abusing their sons. Loholt was later allowed to resume working as a Scout leader and molested other boys, including the two plaintiffs, they allege.

According to the lawsuit, around 1979, another local bishop received complaints that Loholt sexually abused two 12-year-old Scouts on a campout. The bishop removed Loholt from scouting but didn't warn church officials in Canada, where Loholt moved. The suit alleges Loholt abused five Scouts in Canada and was arrested and convicted of child sexual abuse.

Around 1991, Loholt was accused of abusing a neighbor girl in Kent.

Court records show Loholt, who also went by the name Jack Onefrey, was convicted of indecent liberties and child molestation in 1991 and served about three years in prison.
 
"Church officials need to be held accountable," said Fleming, a 42-year-old office administrator. "They could've taken corrective measures and they didn't. They could've reported and they didn't. As a result there's a whole bunch of boys who went through what we went through that didn't have to."

Church officials say they've established programs in recent years to respond to and prevent such abuse. They cite a help line that bishops can call to get guidance on how to assist victims. They also say that, since 1995, the church places a confidential note in the membership record of anyone who has abused children.

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com