Seven Years of Sex Abuse: How Mormon Officials Let It Happen

BISBEE, Ariz. (AP) — The Associated Press has obtained nearly 12,000 pages of sealed records from a child sex abuse lawsuit against the Mormon church.

The documents offer the most detailed and comprehensive look yet at the church's so-called “help line” for dealing with child sex abuse accusations against officials and members.

Families of survivors who filed the lawsuit said they show it’s part of a system that can easily be misused by church leaders to divert abuse accusations away from law enforcement and instead to church attorneys who may bury the problem, leaving victims in harm’s way.

One victim was 5 when her father told his bishop that he was sexually abusing her.

The abuse went on for seven more years, while the bishop failed to report it to authorities.