Lawsuit: Mormon Church leaders in San Diego turned a blind eye to a report of molestation
Source: Lawsuit: Mormon Church leaders in San Diego turned a blind eye to a report of molestation Channel: CBS 8 San Diego Published: November 15, 2022 | Archived: May 24, 2026
Video: Lawsuit: Mormon Church leaders in San Diego turned a blind eye to a report of molestation
Channel: CBS 8 San Diego
Published: November 15, 2022
Duration: 4:40
Views: 13,993
Category: News & Politics
Video ID: chJFH7TuYF4
Description
Warning: This story contains graphic accounts of the sexual abuse of a minor. Some of the details are disturbing.
Elizabeth P says her father, an elder at a San Diego-area chapter of the Mormon Church, told her that he became sexually aroused the first time he held her as an infant.
Sexual abuse by her father, who served at a ward in Lemon Grove, is all she ever knew from the days after she was born in 1983 to when she was a teenager.
Her father, Maynard McFarland, was convicted of molesting his daughter and spent 15 years in a California prison. He was released in 2020 and now lives in a small home in Chula Vista.
Tags
investigations local news
Transcript — YouTube panel (human-authored)
0:00 Well, we got our newest member of the Bonita First Ward here. Elizabeth. The first time that he held me in the hospital after I was born, he got an erection. Elizabeth, we’re only using her first name, was repeatedly sexually abused by her father from birth. He started abusing me, like literally as soon as they brought me home from the hospital. Her family was deeply involved in the Church of Latter Day Saints, and her attorney says they attended this ward in Lemon Grove.
0:31 Her father was an elder there, and she says he used their Mormon faith as a weapon. Framing her personal hell as the path to heaven. If you love me, you’ll do this for me. And Jesus wants us to love each other. And. I wanted to show him that I loved him, so I did. Her father hid his dark secret, but Elizabeth’s mother caught him in the act. When she was only five years old, I thought I was in trouble. I did not understand why she was so mad.
1:02 I thought I had done something wrong and I was in trouble because she just started screaming. I remember running and hiding and then just nothing really changed after that. Elizabeth’s mom did what they were taught to do. When you have a problem, you go to your priesthood leaders so that. She was told along with her mother not to disclose, not to report it, and they would take care of it.
1:27 And instead of taking care of it, they allowed the abuse to continue for many more years. Sam door Dulian is a former prosecutor of sex crimes in LA and represents Elizabeth in her lawsuit against her father and the Church of Latter Day Saints. They tried to hide it, they told the family not to disclose it, they said they would take care of it, and they did nothing to take care of the problem and the abuse and Elizabeth kept suffering.
1:51 Year after year after year, when they learned of continued abuse, the church finally excommunicated Maynard McFarland, but they still wouldn’t turn him into authorities. Elizabeth left home at 18, but took her trauma with her. There were times where I would have to. Go to the, you know, emergency room for 70 plus stitches. Because I had gone through an episode of Self Harm in 2004, Elizabeth called San Diego Police.
2:24 They helped set up and record a phone call where Elizabeth confronted her father. The first time. I don’t even remember. Come on, dad. Maynard McFarland was arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced to 32 years for his crimes against his daughter. He served 15. He now lives in Chula Vista, registered as a low threat sexual offender. I still have flashbacks. I still have anxiety, depression, I mean just a whole host of, of, you know, trauma.
2:58 The lawsuit is only possible now because of a B218A California. Law that extended the statute of limitations for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. It could result in a 7 figure payout from the church, but it would be cynical to think you could put a price on Elizabeth’s suffering. Responding to CBS8A, spokesperson for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said they have 0 tolerance for any kind of abuse and that it quote is still reviewing this complaint regarding abuse that occurred more than two decades ago but disputes the allegations that church.
3:32 Leaders advised the family not to report the abuse of the father to authorities. How is it right that so many people knew what was happening and just let it happen? I. I still can’t answer that question. Elizabeth was trapped by family and faith and feels fury now. When she sees video of her baptism as a child, it makes my blood boil and the fact that his priesthood leader knew what he was doing and just allowed. Him to baptize me.
4:11 Yeah, that makes me angry too. So what are you hoping for in this lawsuit? That that will change with this church? The way that they finally decide, Oh no, we need to make a change is when there’s finally some sort of pain, financial pain inflicted on them. And we’re hoping that this church will realize that what they did and their policies in the past, which sometimes continues on to to to today, needs to change.
4:37 The children must come first.
- Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chJFH7TuYF4
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