Former Mormon Missionary President Accused of Sexual Assault

Shocking news to the 20% of our community that belongs to the Mormon church. Here's what this former Mormon missionary president is being accused of.

It happened back in the 1980's but just this week audio has been released to authorities of him apologizing to the woman and citing a sex addiction.

Joseph L. Bishop is now 85 years old and he has denied the allegations to church officials according to the Idaho Statesman.

The 55-year-old victim in this story is accusing Bishop of trying to rape her back in 1984 when she was a missionary.

Bishop served as a mission president at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah from 1983 to 1986. He also served as the president of Weber State University in Ogden, Utah from 1972 to 1978.

The church has spoken out saying that they became aware of Bishop's possible actions back in 2010 and contacted police but they say they never heard back from police and they didn't discipline him because he denied it.

The allegations were brought up again in 2016 but again it looks like nothing was done.

It wasn't until January of this year when the victims' attorney came forward with an audio tape that things moved forward.

Bishop's son is standing by his side saying this woman is aggressive and that his father is confused in the taped conversation because he was on medication from a heart attack. Quite the opposite, Bishop's son says the woman claiming to be the victim exposed her breasts to his father.

In the audio released to authorities, the accused Joseph Bishop also admits to giving a woman a back rub that he says got "too frisky."

So far Bishop has not officially be charged with anything.

As someone who grew up in the LDS church, allegations like this make me sick. We were taught to trust our leaders, that they are called of God. I can't imagine someone I trusted violating my trust like this if it did indeed happen the way this woman says it did.

It's another reminder that these things can happen in any religion. Just last month a retired Catholic priest from St. Mary's here in the Treasure Valley was arrested for sexual exploitation of a child.

Bottom line, I'm not sure we can be overly trusting of anyone, even if they are in a well-respected church position. Be aware of your surroundings and suspicious behavior and definitely tell someone right away if someone crosses the line.