This article was created for Propublica’s local reporting network in collaboration with the Salt Lake Tribune. Sign up for Dispatch to get stories like this as soon as it is published.
When Sam last met with his therapist Scott Owen, the session was only an hour when Owen sexually abused him, he told Provo in Utah this week. Sam remembers sitting in the car afterwards screaming as loudly as he can.
“I could feel him all over my skin,” he said. “I couldn’t believe this was happening.”
It was October 2017, and Sam had been watching Owen for therapy for over a year. A faithful member of the Latter-day Saint Church of Jesus Christ, he struggled with what he called “unwanted same-sex attraction.” Owen was a high-ranking leader of the LDS Church at the time, and Sam said Owen assured him that he had helped over 200 men he felt the same way.
Instead, Owen “carefully revelling” his two roles as a therapist and church leader, ensuring that sexually moving during the session is key to helping him heal, embrace intimacy and learn how to get closer to God.
“He exploited my trust, armed my faith, and dismantled my confidence,” Sam told the court. “What he did was not unethical. It was calculated, predatory and destructive.”
Police began an investigation of Owen in 2023, only after the Salt Lake Tribune and Pro Deplica reported on various sexual abuse allegations against Owen, who built a reputation during his 20-year professional therapy career capable of helping gay men who are members of the LDS Church. Some of the men who spoke to the Tribune said that the Bishop of the Faith called them Owen and used church funds to pay for the session.
Austin Millet at his Oregon home. Millet is one of several men who told the Salt Lake Tribune and Propoblica that Owen mistreated them during a session that was paid with funds from the Latter-day Saint Church of Jesus Christ. Credit: Amanda Lucier from Propublica
In February, Owen pleaded guilty to three charges, pleading with Sam and his second patient who said he had sought Owen’s help because he suffered from sexuality and Latter-day Saint beliefs. Owen also refused to accept the contest in another case. Prosecutors said there is likely enough evidence to convict him at trial on allegations that he groped a young girl during a treatment session.
However, the number of people who say Owen hurt them was much larger, and they filled the Provo court on Monday as Owen was sentenced to spend at least 15 years in prison.
They stood on the podium in court one by one, telling Owen how he hurt them. His patients were mostly, like Sam, a pseudonym for protecting his identity from his community.
One man told the court that Owen abused him when he was the leader of a young male group organized by the LDS Church.
“He stayed out at his house,” said Mike Barr. “I was there once, and I’ve been living in nightmares ever since.”
There was also a family member of a man who died of suicide. He said he abused him a few days before he took his life, including his brother, who told him he revealed to him that he had abused him.
And then there was one of Owen’s own family, his cousin. He claims he abused him on family trips as a child. After being more publicly made public a few years ago with allegations of abuse, James Cooper worked to gather others who say his cousin had sacrificed them.
James Cooper will speak at Owen’s sentencing hearing. Cooper is Owen’s cousin and claims he abused him when he was a child. Credit: Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune
He spoke about the dynamics that allowed Owen to hurt others for a long time without any impact.
“Indeed, we know how charismatic he is and what it’s like to be a victim of sexual assault. The shame you carry. “Fear of Scott. Fear of not being accepted by your family, your society, your church. All of these things are huge factors.”
One woman talked about Owen’s inappropriate touching on her during therapy at the age of 13 in 2007. During the hearing, the only woman who publicly accused him said Owen felt something was wrong with her. Now she added, “He has no power over me anymore.”
When Owen, 66, was given the opportunity to speak, he said there was no excuse or basis for what he had done.
“Sorry,” he said. “All I have to offer is what remains in my life. And I hope that in delivering those years, justice will be filled in several small ways, and that those I have hurt can separate from me and advance their healing.”
Defence counsel Earl Zais said Owen didn’t want tolerant from the judge, but he told the court that his client sexually abused himself as a child and suffered from his sexuality.
Judge Craig Powell, 4th District Judge, sentenced Owen to life in prison on Monday. Given Owen’s age and the nature of his crime, both the prosecutor and the defense agreed that he would likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
Powell got emotional when he told him his sentence, and told him he harmed not only those who spoke publicly to Owen on Monday, but also all the therapists and church leaders who are ethical and working to help people.
“Thousands of these people are afraid of being affected by this horrifying, abominable incident,” the judge said.
Owen was sentenced to prison after admitting to a patient who was sexually abused during the session. Credit: Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune
Owen gave up his treatment license in 2018 after accusing the state licensors of several patients inappropriately touching them, but the allegations were not investigated by police and were not widely known.
Under a negotiated settlement with the Utah licensing department, Owen may waive his license without recognizing inappropriate conduct, and the sexual nature of the patient’s allegations will not be referenced in the documents he signed when he gave up his license. He continued to play an active role in his therapy business, Canyon Counseling, until Tribune and Prodepra announced their investigation.
Police interviewed more than 12 former Owen patients, who reported that they all touched them in ways they felt were inappropriate during the treatment session. However, Owen faced charges in relation to only three patients. This is because the type of inspiration that prosecutors falls under a part of the criminal law, which has a short window for them to file lawsuits known as the Limited Act, has become the type of patient. All crimes Owen was indicted are felony without restriction laws.
Both the state licensors and local leaders of the LDS Church were aware of the inappropriate and inspirational allegations against Owen in 2016. Reports by the Tribune and Propobrica showed, but they never reported Owen to police.
The church said it took all issues of sexual misconduct seriously and reported that in 2019 it secretly annotated internal records to warn the bishop that Owen’s actions threatened the happiness of others and the church.
The church also said there is no process for church leaders to vet therapists who pay to use the donations of members. It is up to the individual members to “make their own decisions” about whether or not to see the specific therapists recommended by the bishop.
Owen’s former patient Michael agrees to take a photo, but is asked to be identified by his name alone, but sees his wife while he speaks in court about the inappropriate emotionality he said had happened in the treatment session. Credit: Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune
For those who accused Owen of abuse, Monday’s ruling was the only chance they had to deal with Owen as they were unable to bring about charges in their lawsuit. That includes Michael, who asked to be identified by his name alone. He said that when Owen was 14 he saw therapy on and off for about 10 years. He read a letter to his young self in court on Monday.
Utahman pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a patient “using his position as a therapist.”
“On Thursday, we just learned that we are beyond legal opportunities to resolve this,” he said. “And I broke my heart to learn that I cannot pursue trial for you… You will have to be strong.
Editor’s Note: SAM is identified only by pseudonym because it requested anonymity. Due to the risk of his position in his community, we have granted this request. The Salt Lake Tribune and Propovica usually use the full name of the source in their stories. But sometimes it is not possible and we consider other approaches. It often takes the form of an initial or middle name. In this case, we felt that we could not fully protect the sauce by those means. We know his full name and have supported his account through documentation and interviews with others.
