John Goodrich — Mountain Home, Idaho / Williamsburg, Virginia (charged in Virginia; Idaho charges dropped)
A former Latter-day Saint bishop whose Idaho charges were dropped after the church's risk-management director discouraged a bishop's testimony — and offered $300,000 for confidentiality and destruction of recordings, per AP's recordings. Indicted in Virginia in January 2024; no conviction.
Latter-day Saints Charged (VA) — pending; ID charges dropped
- Person
- John Goodrich
- Role
- Former bishop
- Institution
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Mountain Home, Idaho
- Location
- Idaho; Williamsburg, Virginia
- Status
- Idaho charges DROPPED; Virginia indictment (January 2024) pending — NOT convicted
- Charges (Virginia)
- Rape by force/threat/intimidation; forcible sodomy; two counts of aggravated sexual battery by a parent
Case in brief
Tier 2 · Attributed allegations — with a documented procedural record
John Goodrich has not been convicted of child sexual abuse. The Idaho charges were dropped. The Virginia charges are pending as of last reporting. This file records the procedural history and the Associated Press's documented account — recordings included — of how the Idaho case ended, and states the Virginia posture exactly.
Goodrich’s adult daughter reported childhood abuse to Idaho police in 2016. Goodrich had confessed to another bishop, who called the church help line; the church’s risk-management director, Paul Rytting, met the family over four months. AP obtained recordings showing Rytting invoking clergy-penitent privilege to discourage the bishop’s testimony — without that testimony, Idaho prosecutors dropped the charges — and offering $300,000 in exchange for a confidentiality agreement and destruction of the family’s recordings. A parallel set of recordings by an advocate not bound by the agreement reached AP. Goodrich was excommunicated and not readmitted.
In January 2024, a Williamsburg, Virginia grand jury indicted him on four felonies — rape by force, threat, or intimidation; forcible sodomy; and two counts of aggravated sexual battery by a parent — for alleged abuse on a school trip roughly 20 years earlier. He was arrested in March 2024. In a separate Idaho matter, per FLOODLIT/AP summaries, he received a withheld judgment after a plea in a case involving a woman he was accused of drugging.
The institution
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — specifically its risk-management function and help line, as documented in AP’s December 2023 investigation from the family’s and the advocate’s recordings.
The record
Tier 1 · Court-proven — procedural record
| Item | Record |
|---|---|
| Idaho report | 2016 — adult daughter reported childhood abuse to police |
| Idaho outcome | Charges dropped, after the bishop’s testimony was discouraged on privilege grounds (per AP recordings) |
| Documented offer | $300,000 for a confidentiality agreement and destruction of recordings (per AP recordings) |
| Virginia indictment (January 2024) | Four felonies (see fact box) — alleged abuse on a school trip ~20 years earlier |
| Arrest | March 2024 (Virginia charges) |
Status
Pending in Virginia as of last reporting; Idaho charges dropped; no conviction for child sexual abuse in either matter. This file will be updated as the Virginia case proceeds — in either direction.
Records requested & responses
This archive has not filed records requests in this case. The file rests on the published sources below and will be updated if court or institutional records are obtained, or if that changes.
Sources
- Associated Press (Virginia indictment and arrest; Idaho charges dropped; $300,000 offer): kvnutalk.com
- Associated Press investigation (December 2023), “Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims,” via BishopAccountability.org: bishop-accountability.org
Filed October 18, 2026, from the published sources below. Minor victims are never named or identified in this file.