SALT LAKE CITY (KSl.com)-Per a report from ksl.com, Thursday the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints issued a statement concerning the conduct of a former mission president who was excommunicated.
LDS Church spokesman Eric Hawkins said the mission president, who was serving in the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission in 2014, was the impetus of “a tragic and heartbreaking case of deception and betrayal that has impacted many lives.”
When LDS Church leaders learned of this, Hawkins stated, this mission president was “immediately and dishonorably released from his position, sent home and excommunicated from the Church.”
Philander Knox Smart III, who is listed online as a Birmingham, Ala.-based lawyer, was called to preside over the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission in 2013.
Nevertheless, less than a year into his calling, he was released because of “unspecified conduct with missionaries,” per a report from The Deseret News.
Hawkins did not specify what occurred, in his Thursday statements, but said the victims in question, exercising their rights as adults, “chose not to pursue criminal charges.”
These victims were sister missionaries, Hawkins confirmed, were granted “ecclesiastical and emotional counseling,” Hawkins continued, “which continues to be offered to this time.”
After Smart’s disgraceful exit from Puerto Rico, current Emeritus LDS Church General Authority W. Craig Zwick took over for him from May-July 2014, along with his wife, Sister Jan Zwick, per The Deseret News.
The Deseret News also confirmed that in July 2014, President Bruce Boucher and his wife, Sister Rebecca Boucher, took over for their 3-year term which ended last July.
