Cover up after cover up. Todd Christofferson admits that he knew his brother Wade was a child abuser in 2020. Yet he did nothing to alert the rest of his family to the risk his brother posed to their children if they allowed him time with them. And so he offended again, with family members in 2025.While that court case focuses on more recent accusations of sexual abuse out of state, Christofferson is accused of molesting other children years earlier while a member and leader of a Mormon — or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — congregation in Crystal Lake.
Initially, he was “excommunicated” by the church for that behavior, according to interviews. But he was later allowed to return as a full member — and leader.
A one-time member of Christofferson’s McHenry County congregation, former Woodstock resident Edward Nachel, told the Chicago Sun-Times that he was part of the church tribunal that convened in the mid-1990s over allegations that Christofferson molested at least one child at a “slumber party” hosted by one of his children.
While church leaders subsequently “excommunicated” Christofferson over the alleged misconduct, they apparently never went to police or told their flock, and Christofferson was allowed to continue being a part of the congregation, though with a downgraded status.
“No authorities were brought in, nothing was ever mentioned” to the membership, Nachel said, adding that a rumor was allowed to persist that Christofferson’s discipline had to do with an extramarital affair.
“Nothing was ever done to dissuade this guy from doing this stuff.”
At some point, Christofferson was “rebaptized,” and he moved to Ohio and resumed leadership roles, apparently without rank-and-file church members being told of his past.
It’s unclear who signed off on Christofferson’s return.
Nachel said Christofferson’s recent arrest in Utah spurred him to speak up. He said he took his oath seriously at the time of the tribunal that the proceedings and outcome were supposed to be secret, but he also says that had he or others spoken up long ago, perhaps they could have “stopped 30 years” of alleged abuse since then.
Nachel, who moved from the Chicago region to Utah in 2018, said he harbors guilt over what happened and has gone on Facebook to apologize to victims and families for not doing more sooner.
Current leaders of the Crystal Lake Mormon church couldn’t be reached. Crystal Lake police records show a female accuser came forward in 2022 alleging abuse at the Crystal Lake church by Christofferson years earlier when she was a child.
Criminal charges weren’t pursued because the alleged assault occurred long enough ago that the statute of limitations had expired, records show.
Todd, an Apostle since 2008, didn’t have the foresight to see the risk his brother posed to the rest of his family. Or did but decided to risk it. And look at the consequences of his inaction. And he, Todd, is giving Church members counsel about how to conduct themselves. It’s ridiculous. He has shown that Apostles cannot be trusted to do the right thing, nor to have the spirit of discernment. If the church wants to retain Apostolic credibility, they have to dismiss him from office. Not put him on emeritus status, sack him for negligence and incompetence. Eyring has to go too, for the same reasons, as he signed off on the whitewashing of Wade Christofferson’s church record. Failure to do so to acknowledge that the Church and its Apostles are fully prepared to facilitate child abuse, and harbour child abusers.
