On April 2, 2019, Sterling Van Wagenen, noted film director and producer, was indicted in Utah on a single count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. An arrest warrant  was issued on April 4 and Van Wagenen posted bail of $75,000 on April 8. The charge is a first degree felony which, according to the charging document, carries a 15 year minimum sentence and up to life imprisonment if he is convicted.

Van Wagenen has had a long and successful career in film, starting with the co-founding of the Sundance Film Festival with Robert Redford in 1978. In more recent years, Van Wagenen worked on many high profile projects for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon Church.

In February, Truth & Transparency published an audio recording in which Van Wagenen admits to sexually molesting a 13 year old boy in 1993. In the audio, Van Wagenen states that he has never engaged in sexual activity with any other minor. The news of this admision led to Van Wagenen resigning from his current position as a film professor at the University of Utah.

Earlier this month, the Truth & Transparency reported that Van Wagenen was under investigation for an instance of sexual abuse. At the time, few details were known. With this new charge, we now know that he was being investigated for sexually abusing a child under 14.

According to the probable cause statement contained in the charging document, Van Wagenen “rubbed” the genital area of a female between the ages of 7 and 9 on two occasions between 2013 and 2015.

Subsequent to the two instances of abuse, Van Wagenen was alone with the child and asked her if the touching made her feel uncomfortable. According to the victim, during this conversation he told her that this was same way he touched his wife. The victim expressed that the touching made her uncomfortable and he told her that he would stop.

According to the court docket, which has been viewed by Truth & Transparency, Van Wagenen made his initial appearance after the warrant was issued on April 8, the day he posted the $75,000 bail. The next scheduled court date is May 2, 2019.

David (not his real name), the young man Van Wagenen molested in 1993 informed Truth & Transparency that he was surprised by the charge. When he met with Van Wagenen last year and discussed his own molestation with him, David left that conversation convinced that Van Wagenen was being honest and sincere in his declaration that he had never had sexual contact with any other minor.

David goes on to say, “More than anything, my heart breaks for the victim in this case and I sincerely hope there are no other victims out there.”

Requests for comment have been sent to Van Wagenen, his attorney, Steven Shapiro, and the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office. Shapiro declined to comment.

If you are a survivor a abuse, below are a list of resources that can be utilized in the United  States. If you are not a resident of the US, we encourage you to search  for resources near you.

National Sexual Assault Hotline

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP)

A document received through an open records request by Truth & Transparency from the Sandy Police Department has revealed that Van Wagenen is currently under investigation for a sex offense.

In February, Truth & Transparency released a recording in which Sterling Van Wagenen, a noted executive producer and director of various film projects financed by the Mormon Church, admitted to molesting a 13-year-old boy in 1993.

At the time of the abuse, Van Wagenen confessed his actions to his local ecclesiastical leaders and received a formal disfellowshipment of 2 years. Additionally, Van Wagenen went to the local police and confessed his crime; no charges were filed.

In the recording, Van Wagenen claims this was the only instance of non-consensual sexual contact with another person. New information shows this may not be true.

The document, dated February 21, 2019, does not contain Van Wagenen’s name and the location of the incident is redacted. However, the request yielding the document asked for any recent “initial contact reports” involving Van Wagenen.

Initial contact reports differ from police reports and are always deemed public under Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). The amount of data found in them vary from agency to agency. In this particular report, the Sandy PD offers very limited information, only indicating the date, offense, location, priority, and officer assigned to the case.

Further, two other GRAMA requests were submitted by Truth & Transparency requesting all other police reports and investigative files involving the perpetrator. The investigative files were denied by Sandy City’s Chief Administrative Officer, Matthew Huish, saying the investigation is ongoing and the “release of the investigative files can reasonably be expected to interfere with an investigation and enforcement proceedings, and would be irresponsible and contrary to generally accepted practices.”

Because of the denial, the status of and the facts surrounding the incident are unknown. A response concerning the release of the requested police reports is yet to be issued by Sandy City.

Van Wagenen did not respond to a request for comment before the publication of this story.

If you are a survivor a abuse, below are a list of resources that can be utilized in the United  States. If you are not a resident of the US, we encourage you to search  for resources near you.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP)

National Sexual Assault Hotline

Days after molesting David, Van Wagenen’s son's friend, Sterling Van Wagenen turned himself into police at  the Salt Lake County Sheriff's office. In a transcript obtained by Truth & Transparency, Van Wagenen implies he was encouraged to turn himself in by his therapist in Provo, Utah. The name of the therapist is either redacted or was not mentioned, but it is suspected to be David Hamblin who was mentioned in a police report previously released by Truth & Transparency.

This contradicts Van Wagenen’s statement made to David in a recording released by Truth & Transparency earlier this month, in which he said his Mormon Stake President and then the Commissioner of LDS Social Services, Harold Brown, directed Van Wagenen to contact the police. It is entirely possible that both cases are true.

In the interview with police, Van Wagenen struggled to describe the incident. He said he touched David's penis over the clothing. The detective then suggested the word “pat” as the motion used and Van Wagenen agreed. The survivor, David, denies this and claimed it was a stroking motion under the clothing.

In the transcript, Van Wagenen also states he reported the incident to Bill Alder at Child Protective Services.

While at a sleepover with a friend in 1993, David woke up in the middle of the night to something that would haunt him for the rest of his life. His friend’s dad had his hand down his pants and was rubbing his penis. He jumped up and ran to the bathroom. He was scared and did not know what to do. He spent the rest of the night locked in the bathroom and the next 26 years traumatized by the events of that evening.

The perpetrator was Sterling Van Wagenen, a Mormon film producer and co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival, and, while he made a full confession of the crime to both his religious leader and the police, he never completely faced justice. More importantly, David was never given the resources to properly cope with the trauma and heal.

The Abuse

In an audio recording  obtained by Truth & Transparency, Van Wagenen describes a double life he lived for decades. When asked if he is a pedophile, Van Wagenen denies that label, but admits to multiple extramarital affairs with both men and women. He also admits to one single instance of sex abuse perpetrated on a minor. That minor was David.

David, whose name has been changed at his request, sought closure and reached out to his perpetrator through Van Wagenen’s children in an attempt to broker a one-on-one meeting. Van Wagenen agreed to meet with him in September 2018. David, not knowing what to expect, decided to record the conversation. What ensued was a candid conversation in which Van Wagenen was open about the incident and what he thinks may have led to it.

Van Wagenen admits to having “acted out sexually” on many occasions. He cites being abused as a child by his mother as a contributing factor to this behavior. On the night of the abusive act, he and his wife were arguing. He went downstairs, where the kids were sleeping, and “acted out” by molesting David.

Van Wagenen’s recollection of the details are fuzzy, but David fills them in during the conversation. David says he woke up to Van Wagenen’s touch and, as he realized what was happening, quickly ran to the bathroom, locking himself inside and spending the rest of the night there. David recalls Van Wagenen came to the bathroom door multiple times and urged him to exit. He was unsuccessful and eventually went back upstairs.

David mustered up the courage to tell his parents about the abuse. They went to a mutual friend of Van Wagenen who they knew through their Mormon congregation. This mutual friend informed Van Wagenen that he was going to tell the Stake President, Harold Brown, about the abuse. According to David, the friend, who was a Bishop of a nearby, different congregation at the time, encouraged his parents to let the church handle the situation.

Confession

In the recording Van Wagenen says that he was called into see Brown a few days after the abuse. Brown, was not only David's and Van Wagenen’s ecclesiastical leader, but also the commissioner of LDS Social Services, known today as LDS Family Services, a Mormon-owned non-profit providing members with professional counseling.

Because of this, David seemingly hit the jackpot regarding his chances of finding care and understanding after the traumatic experience. However, that was not the case.

Van Wagenen claims he fully confessed to what he did and that a disciplinary council ensued. The result was a two year disfellowshipment from the Church.

Disfellowshipment is described by the Mormon Church as:

“...the council may take is to disfellowship the member. Disfellowshipment is usually temporary, though not necessarily brief. Disfellowshipped persons retain membership in the Church. They are encouraged to attend public Church meetings, but are not entitled to offer public prayers or to give talks. They may not hold a Church position, take the sacrament, vote in the sustaining of Church officers, hold a temple recommend, or exercise the priesthood. They may, however, pay tithes and offerings and continue to wear temple garments if endowed.”

Brown apparently encouraged Van Wagenen to turn himself in to the police. Van Wagenen told David he confessed to a detective and never heard from the police again. He did not recall being told why he was never charged with a crime, but that he always assumed it was because David's parents declined to press charges.

Police Reports

Truth & Transparency was able to corroborate Van Wagenen’s claim of reporting the incident to police. Via open records requests, two police reports were obtained documenting that Van Wagenen did speak with a detective, claiming to have touched both David's abdomen and penis “over his clothing” and describing the penile contact as a “pat”.

In the report, Detective Steve Jentzsch of the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office reported contacting David's father who stated he did not “want to talk about what happened” and that he was “supportive of Mr. Vanwagenen in working out this problem.” Jentzsch concluded that “the victim refused to pursue [the] complaint.” The case was subsequently closed and Van Wagenen was never charged.

The report indicates that the interview between Jentzsch and Van Wagenen was recorded. Truth & Transparency was denied access to this recording by the Unified Police Department (UPD) claiming that because Van Wagenen was never charged, the recording is classified as private under Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA) Section 302(d). Truth & Transparency has appealed the denial.

David denies that the contact was only over his clothing and reports it as a stroking motion, rather than a pat. He also states that he was not aware that police ever contacted his parents. Additionally, in the recording, he repeatedly said he was ten years old when the abuse happened, but dates on the police reports show that he was actually 13.

Truth & Transparency also submitted records requests to multiple police departments across the country in areas where Van Wagenen has lived. The only other offenses returned were minor traffic violations. A request of his personnel file from the University of Central Florida, where he taught from 1999 to 2005, yielded nothing but employment agreements and no evidence of any complaints from students or colleagues.

Who is Sterling Van Wagenen?

Van Wagenen has been involved in the film industry as a producer and director since the 1970s. In 1985, Geraldine Page was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Van Wegenen’s film, The Trip to Bountiful. He worked for BYU from 1993 to 1999 as an Adjunct Professor of Film and then again from 2007 to 2011 as the Director of Content for BYU Broadcasting. According to a profile published by the Deseret News, he was working in 2011 as an Executive Producer for the Mormon Church. He currently works for the University of Utah and, according to his online employee profile, is overseeing an internship class for the current Spring 2019 semester.

But his roots in cinema are much deeper.

Founding Sundance

In 1976 Van Wagenen and a friend decided to organize a film festival in Salt Lake City, Utah to commemorate the bicentennial celebration of the United States. The idea was to put on wide display an overview of American cinema. To his surprise, it was successful and they decided to host the festival  again two years later. Robert Redford caught wind of the plans and contacted Van Wagenen to get involved. The rest, as they say, is history. The two went on to found the Sundance Institute and Van Wagenen served as the first Executive Director.

Mormon Temple Videos

Mormon temples are shrouded in, what many would call, secrecy. The ceremonies that take place are rarely, if ever, talked about outside the temple. The principal ceremony is called the Endowment Ceremony. The Endowment, in part, serves as an instructional session to teach attendees about the foundations of the Earth’s creation and other core doctrines of the Church. This instruction is delivered by a movie played throughout the ceremony. Up until 2013, two videos rotated in these sessions, one was produced in 1988, the other in 1990.

In 2013 those two videos were replaced with three brand new films, all directed by Sterling Van Wagenen. Multiple sources involved in the production of these films told Truth & Transparency that Van Wagenen was brought in by the Mormon Church to direct these movies in an effort to produce a high quality product. These sources tell Truth & Transparency that, of the pool of possible directors, Van Wagenen was likely the best candidate to bring a high production value to the films due to his extensive experience in the film industry. Given the sacredness of these ceremonies, the selection of Van Wagenen implies good standing with the Church.

In January of 2019, due to doctrinal changes in the ceremony, the Mormon Church discontinued the use of the new videos in the Endowment Ceremony in favor of an audiovisual presentation that uses still images from the three movies directed by Van Wagenen.

In addition to directing the temple videos, Van Wagenen has directed or produced a number of films through Excel Entertainment, a for-profit subsidiary of the Mormon Church, including their most recent film, Jane and Emma.

Life After Abuse

David tells Truth & Transparency that he was never contacted by Harold Brown or anyone else from the Mormon Church to check on his well being. No therapy or other assistance was ever offered to him. As he described in the recording, this trauma has greatly affected his life and he has never fully recovered from what happened.

According to an undated press release from the Mormon Church, counselling is offered to victims of abuse and often paid for by the Church. Somehow, that policy was not put into action in David's case, even when his Stake President was an integral part of the Church’s social services.

When asked why he decided to make this recording public, David told Truth & Transparency that there are several motivating factors. He is surprised that Van Wagenen has not faced any real consequences for his actions and went on to enjoy church employment that many would consider prestigious and privileged. He wonders if there are other victims who may feel encouraged to come forward and seek much needed healing. Finally, he feels that sharing his story could provide hope to many who have suffered similar abuse and feel silenced for one reason or another.

David tells Truth & Transparency that he does not blame the Mormon Church for the abuse he suffered, but hopes that his case is an exception to the rule and that the Church normally ensures that perpetrators are held accountable and proper counseling is offered to survivors. If it is not an exception, he hopes that the Church takes proper steps to address the problem, specifically the issue of providing help for the victim.

Comments

Van Wagenen provided Truth & Transparency with the following comment on the morning of February 4th:

“I went through the Church disciplinary process and was disfellowshipped for about two years. I repented and there were no further incidents. I reported the abuse to the police, as I was instructed to by my Stake  President, and the parents elected not to press charges.”

The Mormon Church has not responded to a request for comment.

David revealed his identity in the New York Times on April 28, 2019.

Update February 4, 2019 7:55 am: Truth & Transparency apologizes for any implication that Van Wagenen’s sexual orientation is tied to this abusive act. That was not the intent and the sentence has been clarified.

You can listen to David's conversation with Van Wagenen here and read the transcript here.

You can view the police reports obtained by Truth & Transparency here and here.

If you are a survivor a abuse, below are a list of resources that can be utilized in the United  States. If you are not a resident of the US, we encourage you to search  for resources near you.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP)

National Sexual Assault Hotline