The Truth and Transparency foundation is out with a report exposing high level pedophilia:
While at a sleepover with a friend in 1993, David woke up in the middle of the night to something that would haunt him for the rest of his life. His friend’s dad had his hand down his pants and was rubbing his penis. He jumped up and ran to the bathroom. He was scared and did not know what to do. He spent the rest of the night locked in the bathroom and the next 26 years traumatized by the events of that evening.
The perpetrator was Sterling Van Wagenen, a Mormon film producer and co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival, and, while he made a full confession of the crime to both his religious leader and the police, he never completely faced justice. More importantly, David was never given the resources to properly cope with the trauma and heal.
In an audio recording obtained by the Truth & Transparency Foundation (TTF), Van Wagenen describes a double life he lived for decades. When asked if he is a pedophile, Van Wagenen denies that label, but admits to multiple extramarital affairs with both men and women. He also admits to one single instance of sex abuse perpetrated on a minor. That minor was David.
Local CBS affiliate KUTV 2News report on the claim:
(UPDATE 2/4/19 3:23 p.m.) -- 2News reached out to the Sundance Institute, which issued this statement from a spokesperson:
"Sundance Institute always stands in solidarity with those whose brave truth-telling shines light on abusive behavior. Recent reports in the press have made us aware of an admission of sexual abuse by Sterling Van Wagenen, who played a role in founding both the Festival and the Institute. He has no current connection to either entity, and hasn't since he left our Utah Advisory Board in 1993. We categorically denounce his behavior as described in recent reports."
(UPDATE 2/4/19 1:38 p.m.) -- 2News reached out to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a comment.
The Church replied saying they would not comment on this story.
(KUTV) -- A story published Monday by The Truth & Transparency Foundation, a website founded by two ex-Mormons who also founded Mormon Leaks, claims a co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival and director of two video used in the secretive LDS temple endowment ceremony, admits to molesting a child in the early 1990s.
The abuse allegations are against Sterling Van Wagenen a BYU grad, co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival with Robert Redford, director of the Academy Award winning film "The Trip to Bountiful" and the man who was hired by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to direct new videos for the LDS temple endowment ceremony in 2013.
Van Wagenen is currently a professor and lecturer at The University of Utah.
The website posted an audio recording, allegedly of Sterling Van Wagenen, admitting to the abuse.
I archived all the pages of this guy's University of Utah bio before it gets scrubbed, in case anyone wants to investigate his associations. You can find them here.
view the rest of the comments →
utez ago
Mormon guy here, thanks for sharing. This is a sad story and I can't imagine the life of suffering that "David" has had to go through because of this perverted man. That being said, I don't think it is fair to assume that this is a high level coverup by the LDS church that exposes a systemic problem within the organization.
First, it's important to note the source of the information. This is from their "about us" page:
That isn't to say that what is being presented is not true...but I do think it's important to know as you read this that it's coming from a source that does not have good feelings towards the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Second, this man did not hold a "high office" in the church. Being hired to direct films for the church may give somebody a sense of pride, but it does not have any significance in regard to his church leadership role or authority.
Third, he did confess to the church and received a form of punishment. He also did self-report to local authorities but was ultimately not charged because the "David's" father did not want to press charges.
Finally, like so many of these cases, this happened over 25 years ago. The fact that "David" claims he was 10 while the official reports show he was 13 speaks enough about the potential problems with remembering details of something that happened so long ago.
This is not a defense of Van Wagenen. He should be disciplined by the church for his other extra-marital affairs and should be punished by law enforcement for any and all crimes he has committed.
The LDS church is a large organization with millions of members. Many of those members are bad people. I'm sure the church has been infiltrated by evil men and women (probably from 3 letter agencies) who try their best to tear it apart. Christ himself had his own group of apostles infiltrated. But there are also millions of members trying their best to follow Christ and serve their neighbor.
Vindicator ago
Yep, utez. Thanks for reminding us of all that. I did note the origin of the claim in the OP.
I get what you are saying about the guy not being of an official high rank in the Mormon hierarchy. I used the term because of his status as co-founder of Sundance and as a university faculty member, as well -- "high ranking" meaning well connected in Utah society as opposed to some nobody pedo living in his mother's basement.
utez ago
Gotcha...in that regard I would agree with you that he is high rank. I imagine a lot of evil goes down during Sundance. Thanks for being willing to engage in conversation and for trying to spread the word about this evil that penetrates every nook and cranny of our society.
Otto- ago
Hey guys, thank you both for just being civil; It's a refreshing observation in my eyes.