Mormon church couldn’t care less about sex abuse victims, claims son of pedophile bishop who was ‘shielded’ by religious leader now charged with covering up crimes

Matthew Gooden was not yet born when his father, Shawn, began sexually abusing two young relatives, ages eight and nine.

Matthew spent the first twenty years of his life unaware of the harrowing truth. He had what he considered a normal upbringing in the Mormon church, in which his father had risen to the rank of bishop.

It wasn’t until Gooden’s arrest in September 2022 that he was exposed as the monster he was.

But to his son’s horror, it emerged that church leaders knew about the abuse allegations almost two years earlier but ‘kept it a secret’ from police and the wider community.

Mormon leader Rhett Hintze was charged by Pennsylvania State Police on January 31 with failing to report a victim’s story to authorities.

Instead, the church hierarchy quietly excommunicated Gooden but allowed him to continue attending church events and gatherings with children present, Matthew claims.

The shocking case reflects a series of “cover-ups” within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as the Mormon Church, that were exposed last year by an extensive investigation by DailyMail.com.

And Matthew believes this is indicative of his callous attitude towards abuse.

“The church is interested in protecting its leaders and its reputation, and the victims and their families can just go to hell,” he told DailyMail.com.

Matthew describes what he believes was an ordinary childhood growing up in a Mormon community in Pennsylvania.

His father was a partner in a law firm in Harrisburg and a prominent member of the Mormon community.

He was selected for senior leadership positions, including bishop and first counselor of the Lebanon County Ward.

There was no malice or deviance, let alone the sexual abuse of two young family members between 1997 and 2000, when the victims were between eight and twelve and nine and thirteen years old.

Matthew was three when his father abused his young relatives.

Two decades of family life passed without a word whispered.

That was until one of the victims started therapy in 2020.

In October of that year, the truth came to light during a counseling session. The therapist fulfilled his legal duty as a mandated reporter and notified Virginia police — many of the assaults had occurred in the Woodbridge area of ​​that state.

But the victim also told Lebanon County Stake President Rhett Hintze, a Church leader who oversees several wards.

Due to his high position within the community, Hintze was also a mandated reporter.

But unlike the therapist, he did not report the revelations to authorities, according to a Pennsylvania State Police report released Wednesday.

Not only that, but the church even offered to spare Gooden the humiliation of excommunication if he confessed to police, Matthew claims.

Gooden refused and he was eventually removed from the church rolls.

But no one else – not even Gooden’s family – was allowed to know.

‘From then on, the matter of his excommunication was largely kept secret. I wasn’t even aware of it at the time.

‘Everyone continued to believe he was a member in good standing. He attended church and participated in all church functions.

“It wasn’t until September 2022, when Virginia authorities issued the arrest warrant, that the rest of the world knew.”

Matthew had learned of the allegations a few months earlier, when his father first told him he had been excommunicated “for something he felt he needed to repent of,” before telling him why shortly afterwards.

But it still came as a total shock.

“I never in a million years thought he would be that kind of person,” says Matthew, now 26.

In July last year, Gooden pleaded guilty in Virginia to two counts of forcible sodomy on a child under the age of 13, one count of aggravated sexual arousal and one count of taking indecent liberties with a minor.

He was sentenced in November to a maximum of five years in prison.

Gooden, 48, is awaiting trial on separate charges in Pennsylvania, including rape of a minor.

His former Mormon colleague Hintze, 50, now also risks years behind bars.

Pennsylvania State Police say Hintze was made aware of allegations that Gooden sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy at French Creek State Park in April 2000 by both the victim and Gooden himself in October 2020, but did not follow up the authorities had reported.

Failure to report sexual abuse as required is a third-degree felony in Pennsyvlania, punishable by up to seven years in prison.

This is not the first time the Mormon church has failed to report abuse allegations against its leaders.

In November, DailyMail.com revealed police records showing its failure to report a bishop who had confessed to sexually abusing a minor in Idaho.

In a high-profile case last year in Arizona, a court ruled that church officials were not required to report a member of his ward who had confessed to sexually abusing his daughter for “spiritual penances.”

The abuser, Paul Douglas Adams, continued to rape his daughter for seven years after admitting to his bishop, John Herrod, that his behavior had gotten out of control.

The inconsistency is due to the fact that 33 states exempt clergy from reporting information about alleged child abuse to authorities if it is gathered during a clergy confession.

Pennsylvania is one of those states, but the fact that Hintze was informed of the alleged abuse by the victim could explain why he has been charged.

As to why Mormon leaders seem unwilling to report abuse, Matthew has a number of possible explanations.

“The first duty of any church or organization should be to protect the most vulnerable,” he said.

“In this case, and in other cases in the United States, we see that the church is not complying.

‘It is aimed at preserving their own name and reputation and that of the people they put in power.

“To do that, they overlook the needs of victims and families.

“Their response is to step back and wipe their hands of the situation.”

Gooden and Hintze worked closely together in their roles as leaders of the Lebanon Ward.

Matthew, who remains a member of the Church and is a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, says they considered themselves friends and often socialized outside of church business.

He believes this relationship is “problematic” when it comes to allegations of abuse and often creates a conflict of interest.

Matthew believes that Hintze’s decision to allow his father to continue attending church services until his arrest, years after his confession, was wrong not only because of the protection but also because of the reverence male leaders are held within the Mormon Church.

“There were plenty of people in the department who still looked to him (Gooden) as a source of guidance,” he said.

In a statement from Hintze’s lawyer, the Mormon church says that it ‘actively works to prevent abuse. Our hearts go out to the victims of abuse, and the Church is committed to addressing such incidents wherever they occur.”

It added: “The Church trains its leaders and supports their legitimate efforts. The charges now brought by local prosecutors for failing to report the abuse are misleading, and the church will vigorously defend him.”