Matthew Gooden was not born when his father, Shawn, began sexually assaulting two young relatives, ages eight and nine.
Matthew spent the first twenty years of his life blissfully unaware of the heartbreaking truth, leading what he thought was a normal upbringing in the Mormon church, in which his father had risen to the rank of bishop.
It wasn’t until Gooden’s arrest in September 2022 that he was exposed for the monster he was.
But, to his son’s horror, it turned out that church leaders had known about the abuse allegations almost two years earlier, but “kept it a secret” from the police and the broader community.
Mormon leader Rhett Hintze was charged by Pennsylvania State Police on Jan. 31 with failing to report a victim’s account to authorities.
Rhett Hintze, a Mormon leader in Pennsylvania, was charged Jan. 31 with failing to report allegations of child sexual abuse against a former bishop under his leadership.
Former Bishop Shawn Gooden was sentenced last year to up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to charges that included forcible sodomy of a minor.
The case echoes a series of ‘cover-ups’ within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church.
Instead, the church hierarchy quietly excommunicated Gooden but allowed him to continue attending church functions and meetings with children present, Matthew claimed.
The shocking case echoes a series of ‘cover-ups’ within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church, exposed by an extensive DailyMail.com investigation last year.
And Matthew believes it’s indicative of his callous attitude toward abuse.
“The church is interested in protecting its leaders, its reputation, and the victims and their families can go to hell,” he told DailyMail.com.
Matthew describes what felt like a normal childhood growing up in a Mormon community in Pennsylvania.
His father was a partner in a Harrisburg law firm and a prominent member of the Mormon community.
He was selected for senior leadership positions, including bishop and Lebanon County’s first ward counselor.
There was no suggestion of malice or deviance, let alone sexual abuse of two young relatives between 1997 and 2000, when the victims were between eight and 12 years old and between nine and 13 years old.
Matthew was three years old when his father’s abuse of his young relatives stopped.
Two decades of family life passed without a word being whispered.
That was until one of the victims began therapy in 2020.
Gooden was a respected member of the Mormon community and rose to the rank of bishop and first ward counselor in Lebanon County. He also was a partner in a Harrisburg law firm.
In October of that year, the truth came to light during a counseling session. The therapist fulfilled his legal duty as a mandated reporter and informed Virginia police; many of the assaults had occurred in the Woodbridge area of that state.
But the victim also told Lebanon County stake president, a church leader who oversees several wards, Rhett Hintze.
Due to his high position within the community, Hintze was also a required reporter.
But unlike the therapist, he did not report the revelations to authorities, according to a Pennsylvania State Police report released Wednesday.
Not only that, but the church even offered to spare Gooden the humiliation of excommunication if he confessed to the police, Matthew claims.
Gooden refused and was eventually removed from the church rolls.
But no one else, not even Gooden’s family, was to know.
‘From that point on, the matter of his excommunication was largely kept secret. He wasn’t even aware of it at the time.
‘Everyone still believed he was a member in good standing. He attended church, participated in all church functions.
“Actually, it wasn’t until September 2022, when Virginia authorities issued the arrest warrant, that the rest of the world found out.”
Matthew had learned of the accusations a few months earlier, when his father first told him that he had been excommunicated “for something he felt he needed to repent of,” before telling him why shortly after.
But still, it was a total shock.
“I never in a million years would have thought he would be that kind of person,” says Matthew, now 26.
President of the Church President Russell M. Nelson
In July of last year, Gooden pleaded guilty in Virginia to two counts of forcible sodomy with a child under 13, one count of aggravated sexual assault and one count of taking indecent liberties with a minor.
In November he was sentenced to up to five years in prison.
Gooden, 48, is awaiting trial on separate charges in Pennsylvania, including rape of a minor.
His former Mormon colleague, Hintze, 50, now also faces years behind bars.
Pennsylvania State Police say Hintze was informed of allegations that Gooden had sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy at French Creek State Park in April 2000 by both the victim and Gooden himself in October 2020, but He did not convey this to the authorities.
Failure to report sexual abuse as required is a third-degree felony in Pennsylvania, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
This is not the first time the Mormon church has failed to report abuse allegations against its leaders.
In November, DailyMail.com discovered police records showing it had failed to report a bishop who had confessed to sexually abusing a minor in Idaho.
In a high-profile case in Arizona last year, a court ruled that church officials had no duty to report a member of their ward who had confessed to sexually abusing his daughter because of “cleric-penitent privilege.” .
The abuser, Paul Douglas Adams, continued to rape his daughter for seven years after admitting to his bishop, John Herrod, that his behavior was out of control.
The inconsistency is due to the fact that 33 states exempt clergy from reporting to authorities information about alleged child abuse if it was obtained during spiritual confession.
Pennsylvania is one of those states, but the fact that the victim told Hintze about the alleged abuse may explain why he has been charged.
As for why Mormon leaders seem unwilling to report abuse, Matthew has several possible explanations.
“The first obligation of any church or organization must be to protect the most vulnerable,” he says.
‘In this case, and in others across America, we are seeing that the church is not living up to that.
‘He is focused on preserving his own name and reputation and that of the people they put in power.
‘To do that, they are overlooking the needs of the victims and their families.
“Their response is to step back and wipe their hands of the situation.”
Gooden and Hintze worked closely together in their roles as leaders of the Lebanon neighborhood.
Matthew, who is still a member of the church and a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, says they considered each other friends and often hung out outside of church business.
He considers this relationship “problematic” when it comes to allegations of abuse and often leads to a conflict of interest.
Matthew believes Hintze’s decision to allow his father to continue attending church functions until his arrest years after his confession was wrong not only due to safeguarding, but also the reverence held for male leaders within the Mormon church.
“There were a lot of people in the ward who still looked to him (Gooden) as a source of guidance,” he says.
In a statement provided by Hintze’s attorney, the Mormon church said it “actively works to prevent abuse.” “Our hearts ache for victims of abuse and the church is committed to addressing these incidents wherever they are found.”
He added: ‘The church trains its leaders and supports their legitimate efforts. The charges now brought by local prosecutors for failure to report abuse are wrong, and the church will vigorously defend it.’
