Recent SLTribune article tell of the arrest of one Mike Driggs, a 62 year-old a registered sex offender from Sandy, Utah for alleged sex offenses with a young boy he met at church in 2004.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56274733-78/driggs-police-sex-alleged.html.csp

Maybe someone knows what happened to Mr. Driggs during the past 40 years or so, other than he was convicted as a sex offender in 1985 but we can shed some light on events prior to that, which may also illustrate interesting, but not surprising behavior within TSCC.

This is the same Michael Driggs who was a missionary in Brasil in the early 1970's. And the same Elder Driggs who was discovered with "inappropriate" relationships with young boys in the mission field. When this information came to light, he was sent away from Brasil---but none of the missionaries know where...a few of us int he Mission Presidency knew why. We had assumed he would be sent home and face Church discipline with a "dishonorable" discharge.

But Driggs, from wealthy and influential LDS Arizona family, was not sent home...he was sent to another mission in the U.S. How do we know? My close friend was his Zone leader in the Southern States where Driggs was transferred, directly from Brasil.

What happened to him there? He was, once again, discovered to be behaving inappropriately with little member boys, and was finally sent back to Arizona...just a little before his actual 2 years would have been up.

Was he disciplined? Was he turned over to appropriate authorities? We don't know for sure.

Maybe someone else can fill in the blanks....to help answer the question of whether the church should be in any way culpable in his eventual conviction...was Driggs a full-fledged member when he met this latest young victim at curch in and allegedly starting abusing him in 2004? We don't know...but we do know the Church had to have known of his past.

Thoughts?

Additional details by anyone from Sandy, Utah where Driggs lived/attended church?

Of course, the real question is whether an opportunity was missed within the church to avoid what appeared to be a life-long pattern of destructive behavior towards children?

And if so, why?

About the same time frame (1980), a nephew of then President Kimball was seducing married LDS women in Texas while on his mission. The MP would not do anything about it because he was after all Mormon Royalty. This dude was also from Arizona.

My step dad met Driggs while he was in salt lake county prison for his first sentance, before he was released in 2002, or somewhere around there. My step dad was not in prison, he was a volunteer there and befriended Driggs. After Driggs was released, he allowed him to come into our home and into all of our lives, against our disapproval and uncomfort. As far as I know, Driggs was not a member in 2004. He had been ex communicated but still attended church. He was married a couple years after his release and moved from Kearns to my parents neighborhood in Sandy. My family, with the exception of my step dad, knew it would only be a matter of time before he was back in jail.

Mike Driggs has been molesting boys since he himself was a boy. It has been covered up, monetary compensation made to victims, favores called in, etc. primarily by his father. Mike was the youngest and most favored in the family.

From reports from Tempe and Phoenix police, Mike Driggs was on parole for molesting one boy in Tempe when he was arrested for molesting two more in Phoenix. A plea agreement was reached with a lesser charge of inappropriate contact with a minor; once again this was the result of his powerful father paying off the right sources and protecting a son that had already harmed over 60 boys (Mike was then in his mid-thirties). More favors were called in by his father and he was moved from AZ to UT where the prison conditions were more favorable.

As a sad side note to the Phoenix arrest and Mike Driggs going to prison for almost 20 years, his then wife, Prudence Driggs, not only knew what he was doing but encouraged him to molest her two sons and left the house so that he could molest the non-family member boys he brought in. She has never been punished for her part!

This time he was married to a woman who would not live with a man who did what he did nor condone it. She was the driving force behind the investigation of what he did to this victim that will hopefully put him in prison for the rest of his life. To many of us, she is the hero and has probably saved many more young boys from becoming victims of "Mike Driggs love".

Mike has stated that he has only "done things to these boys out of love". He honestly does not feel he is wrong in any way and that the authorities are over-reacting.

Had he had to pay the consequences at 15, maybe someone in the AZ justice system could have gotten through to this very sick mind and prevented numerous boys from being molested in the years to come.

Mike Driggs did get re-baptised into the mormon church a few years back by lying to authorities, his wife, his family and friends. When this latest victim was revealed he was once more ex-communicated. At least in the ward he was going to he was under close supervision and not allowed to be alone with, or in contact with, the young boys. However, that is not to say that he didn't continually try. Many in that ward community have questions as to what his motivations were in regards to some of the youth and young adult males.

When he was sent from Brazil to Florida to finish "an honorable" mission it sent the message that his sick behavior was accepted by the church as long as it got covered up quickly and enough money thrown on it.

Mike Driggs is the example of what happens to a young man with a serious problem that gets ignored and covered up by family and church. He is also one of the most accomplished liars I have ever met. He is a mulipitator who can charm anyone into believing he is the vitim and really a wonderful guy.

In light of what happened to mr. Mike Driggs is that he is located at the ganison, UT max prison for life. I was the 12 year old boy who he molested in 2004. It is written that he has molested over 65 kids. The information you have about whether the church knew or not. Yes they did know and yes i sent his lying decieving and munipulating butt behind bars. After being approached in 2012 by Mr. Driggs, i had severe PTSD that i now live with. Sleep insomnia and depression. I hope and pray to god that you dont think of the church this way at all. The church never covered it. Mr. Driggs never told anybody and watched for his next victim. The ones that knew where the bishop that was present at the time. He later moved in with his son and daughter and targeted his grandson and i had enough i told investigators the story and my side of the story and that was proof alone to send him back to prison.

You were very brave to do that. What a dreadful man. I wish you peace.

I hope that a MP who moves a mish Out of a jurisdiction where a crime might have occurred would be in violation of Serious criminal exposure...


If known to competent media & published, that would be a Damning Story of LDS complicity!

Hearing from "the unknown guy" brings this sad story to vivid life: so sorry to hear your experience with Driggs and agree it must have taken much courage to come forward to put Driggs back where he should be.

All the best in dealing with the aftermath of what happened to you; I'm sure those of us who don't have such experience cannot relate to what you deal with.

And, while I find your comments admirably generous about the Church's culpability, it's difficult to absolve them of accountability given how early this was known (at minimum in the early 1970's) and could have been dealt with.

How many could have possibly avoided such experiences if there would have been an earlier intervention? This sad story is illustrative, IMHO, of how the organization really operates, vs. what is espouses publicly.

The MP of Brasil Central Mission in this case was Sherman Hibbert. Very hard to believe he would have acted alone on this, although he obviously supported it.

A living prophet in New York was directed of the Lord to brand his flock of women. I'm beginning to reexamine eternal values, and if any scriptures have mention of prisons on the other side.

http://www.newyorkupstate.com/albany/2018/03/mom_and_daughter_meet_in_upstate_ny_for_the_first_time_in_50_years_after_dna_tes.html

I personally doubt “dealing” with this guy's serious problem by the church would have made him any less of a predatory pedophile. There really isn't some cure for this.

He should have been charged, convicted and imprisoned. He would then be a predatory pedophile locked up in a prison without access to children he could victimize. In any case, the Mormon Church did facilitate his access to more and more victims. This story is a carbon copy repeat of the Catholic Church sexual abuse cases.

Report, arrest, charge and convict. That is the appropriate “therapy” for a sexual predator.

I may have been Mike’s first molestation, I was 7 yrs old and he 5 yrs you older. All the kids on the block loved Mike, he was athletic and took time to know us. One day Mike asked my brother (8) and I if we wanted to see his basement. It was an outside entrance basement with yard equipment. Once we entered he pushed my brother out, locked the door and threw me to the ground. He sat on top and pulled down my pants. I was screaming and my brother was yelling and trying to break the door down. Mike kept grabbing my penis and it really hurt. It seemed like a long time, but probably lasted less than a couple minutes when he got up and unlocked the door. My brother rushed him, then pulled me out while I was try to pull up my pants. We ran home, told my Mother, she called Mrs Driggs, they apologized and told us he would be punished. That was it. It was the early 60’s. My brother saved me. Fast forward to my age 14, I joined a ‘Mormon Boy Scout troupe. We get to camp, and Mike is a Jr leader, a college kid. I was panicked, he again took interest in me, tried several time to engage in conversation and invite me to exclusive activities. I was able to stay away, however I don’t think I slept that entire week. It was crazy scary. I couldn’t tell anyone, he was a leader and who would believe me. I quit the troupe after returning home.

Mike's parents loved him more than they loved anyone else.  YAY!

/s