I worked in some Half-way Houses in Utah that housed the Sex-offenders. I was TBMish at the time and had recently gotten out of the LDS Singles scene as a Mid-thirties aged dater. So I was shocked the first time that I heard (during the last interview that the offenders are given when Corrections decides if they will let them out on Parole permanently) Corrections Officers tell the offender to go to LDS Singles dances for a social life.

It was a requirement that they have a plan for a social life, in addition to a job and a place to live. They couldn’t just say that they’ll wing it and hope to meet someone at work or something. In order to help them not go right back to scouting out victims just out of boredom and loneliness, they need to plan out a social life. And the easiest way to do that was to go to LDS Singles dances.

So my having just recently gotten married and fresh out of that scene, I was somewhat horrified to know that sex-offenders were being specifically directed in that direction. So the women at LDS Singles dances were set up to unknowingly be the entertainment for paroled sex-offenders so that they didn’t get bored and go reoffend on a more random target.

I heard it more than once while I worked there; it was just kind of the drill to fulfill that requirement. The first time I heard it my jaw dropped. I thought, these women have no idea who is being directed right at them.

Very naive women I might add.

wow. OMG is all I can say.

If first-hand witnesses to this practice would be willing to talk to an investigative journalist, I would imagine the public would be quite interested.

This is just plain WRONG!

sad, but kinda funny too...

This is obviously the result of some well meaning do-gooders, who had it in their head that an active wholesome social life would somehow magically transform a bad guy into a good one. There might be some truth to that, but not if the guy is being pushed forced. Encouraging a sex offender to stay home, and get his sexual needs fulfilled through the internet and masturbation would probably be better for all parties.

When I went to the singles ward there was a rather popular guy that attended as well. He was later arrested for large amounts of child porn on his computer. There were also a ton of odd men who would frequent the dances, so this doesn't suprise me too much, but it's still disturbing.

Do a lot of women go to Jazzercise classes in Utah? Do a lot of sex offenders get work as school bus drivers - day care workers?

They do the same thing in Idaho.

OMFG! I wonder if that's where my neighbor met her husband? I know they got married when she was about 40, after he got out of prison. She was a mormon but divorced, and now they both go to church. Maybe he converted after they met at the dances? I'm gonna have to figure out a way to ask her where they met. LOL

OMG...I used to go to those dances several years ago. I did meet a former sex offender there (who, to his credit, willingly disclosed his past to me). I had NO IDEA such men were encouraged or even directed to attend.

Those dances were horrible. The organizers maintained a list of known polygamists and married men who regularly trolled the dances searching for new women.

The women were desperate and highly competitive. One New Year's Eve, a woman approached my date (who was standing next to me), held his arm, and asked him to escort her to the parking lot just as the clock was about to strike midnight.

The whole thing was a shark pool of chronic un-dateables circling round each other each Friday eve, sniffing for blood.

A good friend who still attends informed me last week that the leaders recently announced a cut-back to every other Friday. The reason given was so that the singles would spend the odd Fridays going on dates.

As if!

Tara the Pagan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OMG...I used to go to those dances several years
> ago. I did meet a former sex offender there (who,
> to his credit, willingly disclosed his past to
> me).

It's called, "Giving his disclosure." They are required to say it.

As I said, I was recently out of the singles scene, and I was surprised at the seeming ease with which they could find a date (They lived in the half-way house and worked during the day, and got more and more privileges prior to getting all the way out).

They would get dates from random meetings in public and do their disclosure and still have the date.

That's jacked up. Not to doubt you, DNA, but it seems so fictional and too crazy to be true.

I know the obvious problem is that they are releasing them to a room full of niave women, but aren't they also endorsing a specific faith? I don't think the government is supposed to do that.

skeptifem Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I know the obvious problem is that they are
> releasing them to a room full of niave women, but
> aren't they also endorsing a specific faith? I
> don't think the government is supposed to do that.

Being as this was SLC, most of the offenders were LDS. I didn't verify, but I imagine that the ones that I observed this happening with were LDS.

I worked with guys that abused kids that they baptized on their missions, abused kids in their wards, committed bestiality with other Priests while in high school, etc. etc.

It was an eye opener to find that all that was going on around me in SLC, but wasn’t ever on the news.

Somehow I'm not surprised. Sadly.

I only wish the sheeple could know about this as well.

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, LDS single people are an extremely vulnerable group for these guys to prey on. The church does little to nothing to prepare these people to protect themselves, other then giving worthless advise on relying on "the spirit." It get's worse, the church actually teaches and encourages mind sets in these singles that make them extremely vulnerable.

On the other hand, I can't think of any worse punishment, then to be made to attend an LDS singles event.

forbiddencokedrinker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> On the other hand, I can't think of any worse
> punishment, then to be made to attend an LDS
> singles event.


THIS. THIS SO MUCH.

On the other hand, I can't think of any worse punishment, then to be made to attend an LDS singles event.

At BYU a friend of mine searched the sex offender registry just out of curiosity. Who should appear but... the ward clerk.
Needless to say she was a bit surprised and asked the bishop if he knew about it. Instead of a nice, "oh, thank you for bringing that to my attention, yes we already know," she was threatened with disciplinary action if she told anybody about it. I can only imagine what the bishop's reasoning for this was. He probably thought that the best way to fight recidivism was to pawn him off on some unsuspecting girl in the ward. I'm all for second chances, but c'mon, you can't put an injunction on someone to not share publicly available, not to mention, vitally important information. I don't think the dude got many dates regardless, but still. Bishop fail! According to my friend, he was not a very popular bishop among the women of the ward--gee, wonder why. Goddamn, I had some crappy bishop's at BYU. The worst were the guys that were rubes but were still dicks.

Print off his flyer, and put it up on the church bulletin board.

This goes on all the time. Every ward is allowed to have 2 known sex offenders. The bishop isn't required to let anyone know about it.

When my niece was raped by the son of the 1st councilor, her parents were told they were not to tell anyone. They were also threatened with discipline. They told every parent of every young girl in the ward. They were stunned to find out from other parents that their daughters had also been this kids victim. As far as we know, there were 7 girls under age 11 that he raped. Three of them were his sisters. The other parents obeyed their leaders and didn't tell anyone. If they had done the right thing, and told, my niece wouldn't have been raped.

The church was way more concerned about being sued than they were the victims in the case.

They're allowed to have two? If they have more, do they send the extra to a unit that has a deficit? If one dies or moves, do you send in a request for a replacement?

I used to go to the singles dances many moons ago. Think I met some of the female sex offenders there. Anyway I do remember that the women knew that certian men did troll the dances looking for new horses for the stable. Never heard of any sex offenders being there or sent there. Overall had a good time and met some fine ladies.

In light of the recent thread that noted 50% of active LDS women would never get married in the temple, this is pretty scary. These women will be sitting ducks.

This is absolutely sick!!!! It makes me wonder how many women who have encountered these offenders at these dances have been been victims of rape or other kinds of sexual assault by these offenders. I wonder if there have been cover ups.

it makes me sick too.

Actually..that is THE main reason I asked to be removed from TSCC rolls.

I was finding LA TEMPLE WORKERS ( male) on Meagan's list ( sp)...the sex offender web site..

I worked with this guy...

And sex offender's in my stake!!!...I didn't want my name/address/gender published and distributed to any old anybody
1

Growing up in Utah, there were so many girls my age that told me about being raped that I came to think of it as a natural part of life. One girl's father would not only molest her numerous times but met in barns with other sickos who had brought their kids for a rapist pot-luck. While the family left him, that father stayed a respected member of his LDS ward. No one exposed him.

Another girl said her brothers would molest her as well as the family pets.

My own wife was molested by an LDS missionary.

Now as an adult some of the girls I knew back then are just coming out with their reports that they'd been molested. One friend developed PTSD from it.

I posted a while back about the sex offenders registry and how not only are they densely populated in otherwise sparse Utah, their crimes were predominantly against children. Now I live in an area that is very densely populated, but only peppered with registered offenders and crimes against children were a minority.

I am convinced that were the LDS church not concerned with its image and money that we would not see so many sex offenders in Utah. But then it did start as a sex cult. I actually wonder if there is every bit of abuse in the modern church as there was in Brigham's day, only now it's had to go back in the closet.