A man who taught a primary class at a West Jordan congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was sentenced Thursday afternoon for sexually abusing a child.
Sean Sund, 49, will spend 361 days in the Salt Lake County Jail and then undergo four years of probation as part of an agreement with prosecutors. Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to sex abuse of a child, a second degree felony.
“I take full responsibility of my actions in this case. I’m in treatment and therapy. I’m very sorry for what my behavior has done to the victim and her family,” Sund said.
The sentencing resolves the case, which has dragged on for more than four years. West Jordan Police arrested Sund in June 2018 after an 8-year-old child reported he sexually abused her at a sleepover in his home.
Sund, who was not married and did not have children, held sleepovers in his home and abused the victim multiple times, according to charging documents. Sund met the victim at the ward where he taught a primary class, the charges state.
Sund has already undergone sex offender treatment and will be on the sex offender registry for the rest of his life. At the hearing Thursday afternoon, Sund was taken into custody to begin his jail term.
A prosecutor said the victim’s family did not wish to make the child go through the process of a trial, and they were pleased with the resolution.
He’s apologised to the victim and her family. But this is a plea deal and there were other victims and other families to whom he’s offered no such apology.
During the investigation, Sund told police that he often had children over to his home and had sleepovers where the children would occasionally sleep in his bed. He also admitted to two sexual abuse incidents similar to the ones the victim described to police.
What sort of parent lets their 8 year old daughter attend a sleep over with a single male adult? They slept in his bed and this wasn’t a one-off. The parents allowed this on multiple occasions. I’m flabbergasted. The parents should be charged with neglect or something. Is this parental incompetence an isolated problem in West Jordan, or does it speak to a wider, systemic issue of Mormon parents over trusting fellow members and leaders?
Last edited by IHAQ on Mon Sep 05, 2022 12:31 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Well, I wouldn't like to say anything about "Mormon parents" in general.
But any parent who allows their eight-year-old daughter to have a sleepover at the house of a single man must obviously have a view of the situation that differs a great deal from my own, and, I would suggest probably from that of most non Mormon parents.
What astonishes me more than the fact that the parents allowed this to happen is the fact that the man in question actually had the brass neck to propose such a strange idea to the girl's parents. I don't know Mormon culture from the inside, although I have learned a lot about it from this board and elsewhere. But was the fact that the man was "called as a primary teacher" enough for him to feel that parents would consider that the "discernment" of those appointing him to that role was sufficient guarantee that nothing untoward could possibly happen?
Maksutov:
That's the problem with this supernatural stuff, it doesn't really solve anything. It's a placeholder for ignorance.
Mayan Elephant:
Not only have I denounced the Big Lie, I have denounced the Big lie big lie.
If the average Mormon is naïve and trusting imagine how naïve and trusting the Mormons at the far end of the bell curve are. "Sure you can have my kid over for a sleep over. "Oh you're picking her up in an panel van? You have free ice cream and balloons in the van? Cool she loves ice cream and balloons. Have fun."
LDS parents still sending their kids to scouting where random men are given custody over a group of boys out in the woods for days even after hundreds or thousands of sexual abuse complaints over the decades and an ongoing massive class action is an even bigger example.
Last edited by Bond on Mon Sep 05, 2022 4:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
They all want a hero, a third party who will validate them and their world views. Abusers know this. and their first target is the parents. They ingratiate themselves into the parents' lives such that the parents cannot believe that the individual may have a hidden agenda. Another word for this is a con man. Instead of money, the goal in this case it is access to their children. And the institutional church gives its stamp of approval, so of course the parents fall for it every time.
What sort of parent lets their 8 year old daughter attend a sleep over with a single male adult?
There has to be something else going on here, that doesn't pass the test of reasonableness for any parent.
According to the Mormon pedophile it’s a cultural thing for Micronesians to do this sort of thing. I suppose this begs a few different questions regarding discernment, Bishop confessionals, common sense, and perhaps culture both Mormon and Micronesian. I hope the kid is ok, but I’m not sure how the adults in her life will help her deal with being sexually assaulted by this Mormon man.
- Doc
Hiring a part-time news entertainment anchor as SecDef, what could go wrong?
There has to be something else going on here, that doesn't pass the test of reasonableness for any parent.
According to the Mormon pedophile it’s a cultural thing for Micronesians to do this sort of thing. I suppose this begs a few different questions regarding discernment, Bishop confessionals, common sense, and perhaps culture both Mormon and Micronesian. I hope the kid is ok, but I’m not sure how the adults in her life will help her deal with being sexually assaulted by this Mormon man.
- Doc
That could certainly explain how the situation arised. A predator taking advantage of cultural differences. I have always thought it sad to see how Mormonism takes advantage of Micronesians' innocent culture. It always left a really bad taste in my mouth seeing how effective Mormon missionaries were in parts of the world where people are more trusting and/or not as well educated.
There has to be something else going on here, that doesn't pass the test of reasonableness for any parent.
According to the Mormon pedophile it’s a cultural thing for Micronesians to do this sort of thing. I suppose this begs a few different questions regarding discernment, Bishop confessionals, common sense, and perhaps culture both Mormon and Micronesian. I hope the kid is ok, but I’m not sure how the adults in her life will help her deal with being sexually assaulted by this Mormon man.
- Doc
I don’t see where the Micronesian connection in this case is reported. Do you have a reference?
According to the Mormon pedophile it’s a cultural thing for Micronesians to do this sort of thing. I suppose this begs a few different questions regarding discernment, Bishop confessionals, common sense, and perhaps culture both Mormon and Micronesian. I hope the kid is ok, but I’m not sure how the adults in her life will help her deal with being sexually assaulted by this Mormon man.
- Doc
I don’t see where the Micronesian connection in this case is reported. Do you have a reference?
Sund served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Micronesia and fell in love with the culture, Simms added.
He attended a Micronesian branch where he served as the primary teacher to children.
“In the Micronesian community people will have large sleepovers and people are more likely to sort of interact in that family way that may seem odd to Americans and western culture. It’s very much accepted in the Micronesian culture to have a large sleepover,” Simms said.
Simms is a criminal defense attorney representing 45-year-old Sean David Sund.
- Doc
Hiring a part-time news entertainment anchor as SecDef, what could go wrong?
Thanks Doc, I wonder is it “…very much accepted in the Micronesian culture to have a large sleepover” of young girls at an unrelated single adult males house?
