Police: Ex-Mormon official asked to see woman’s breasts
SALT LAKE CITY — A former Mormon missionary leader under investigation by church officials over sexual assault allegations said he asked the alleged victim to expose herself to him during a 1984 encounter but that he didn’t rape her, a police report reveals.
It is the first public disclosure of Joseph L. Bishop, 85, acknowledging wrongdoing and contradicts his son’s account that the woman exposed her breasts without being asked.
But Craig Vernon, an attorney for the alleged victim, said his client never exposed herself and that Bishop ripped off her blouse and raped her.
Bishop has repeatedly denied raping the woman, but is heard apologizing to her during a December conversation she secretly recorded with him. The recording was made public this week by the website MormonLeaks , a church watchdog.