A 13-year-old boy molested five years ago by an LDS Church youth leader has won a $4 million award from the church in a unanimous jury verdict.
The award by a Montgomery County jury on Thursday was $1 million more than the boy's lawyers had sought in the case. The church will appeal the decision.Jurors found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints negligent for not protecting the boy from a pedophile who won children over by giving them candy after Sunday services in Magnolia, 40 miles northwest of Houston.
The jury also found, however, that the LDS Church and four former bishops named in the personal injury case didn't act with malice or "conscious indifference." Such a finding would have opened the door to millions more in punitive damages.
The man who assaulted the boy, 70-year-old Charles John "Chuck" Blome, is serving a 15-year sentence for molesting the child in 1993. Blome also molested at least four other boys from 1982 until his arrest in 1994.
Plaintiff's attorney Clay Dugas said he believes the jury went beyond the requested damage amount as a message to the church that it shared the blame for Blome's actions.
Plaintiff's attorneys argued during the trial that former Magnolia Bishop Jerry Torgeson alerted Blome that he was under suspicion only two days after the boy's family alerted him of the abuse.
Investigators say Torgeson tipped Blome and thereby enabled him to burn evidence, including nude pictures he kept of his young victims. The evidence could have meant a longer sentence for Blome, attorneys said.
Defense lawyer Bob Schick maintained that the church had no control over Blome.
Dan Rascon, an LDS Church spokesman in Salt Lake, confirmed the church's intent to appeal and expressed its disapproval of Blome's actions.
"Our position on abuse is very clear. We vigorously condemn abuse of any kind and in any form," Rascon said. "As President Hinckley has stated very clearly, we are doing all we can to stamp out this terrible evil."