When I was an 18-year-old university student in 1985/86, attending University in eastern Canada, a high priest in our ward sexually assaulted me while I was supposed to meet up with other students. You see, he wasn’t just a high priest, he also taught Institute. I arrived a few minutes early, so I was actually alone in the room with him.
Without warning, he cornered me, pushed me up against the wall, and forced his tongue down my throat— all the while I was struggling and yelling at him to stop. He groped me and pushed his fingers up where they didn’t belong. He only stopped when he heard someone coming.
Seeing this as my opportunity to get the hell out of there, I fled. I told one of my friends about it who told me I needed to tell our bishop or stake president. So I did. They called me a liar. They asked me “Do you know WHOM you’re accusing of sexual assault? He is a pillar of the community and has held important church positions. He couldn’t possibly have done what you claim.” So, nothing was done about it. His wife called me a slut and screamed at me that I must have done something to tempt her husband. Obviously, she didn’t take into consideration that I was only 18 and her husband was 70ish years old. Gag.
That’s when I stopped attending Institute and quit going to church for a while. By a while, I mean I stayed away for the next 7 years.
Anyway, a couple of years after that incident happened, I learned through the grapevine that this “pillar of the community” had been accused of sexually molesting and raping his daughter. Also, a granddaughter was living with him and his wife while she was a student. She was a member of the church. One morning, when his wife had gone to a dentist appointment, he came downstairs to the kitchen where his granddaughter was getting breakfast before heading to class. He was stark naked and attempted to rape her. Again, no one believed the victim and the church leaders swept all of it under the rug and attempted to convince these young women that they contributed to their assaults. That young woman’s grandmother ( the perp’s wife) kicked their granddaughter out of their house for “making false accusations.”
As for the pervert, I learned that he went on to become a temple worker/sealer in the SLC temple until he passed away in 1999.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.