A former Chicago-area Mormon Church leader has pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to child sex crimes involving two young girls, years after he was removed from the church over earlier allegations of child sex abuse and later reinstated.Wade S. Christopherson, 73, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ohio, to one count of coercion and enticement of a minor. This offense carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum life imprisonment.He will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargas Jr. at a later date. Under the plea agreement, Christopherson also must register as a sex offender when released from prison.
earlier allegations
Christofferson was once an influential member and leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Crystal Lake, a suburb of the Chicago area.He was excommunicated from the church in the 1990s after being accused of child sexual abuse. However, he was later reinstated and allowed to serve as a member and leader in a congregation in Ohio. Authorities say he later abused two more children.The Chicago Sun-Times previously reported that Christopherson’s younger brother, D. Todd Christofferson, a senior leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, learned around 2020 of allegations that Wade Christofferson had abused children decades earlier.According to the newspaper, a spokesman for the church said that D. Todd Christofferson respected the wishes of the alleged victims, who were by then adults, and did not report the matter to law enforcement. The spokesman also said he did not know why his brother was disfellowshipped in the 1990s and that he had no role in the decision to later reinstate him.
facetime call
According to the U.S. Justice Department, the investigation began after Kristofferson was overheard during a sexually explicit FaceTime call with a child in Utah in November 2025.Federal prosecutors said he had also been sending handwritten letters to the child’s home for about six months. Investigators alleged that the letters contained coded language referring to sexual activity and were marked ‘Top Secret’, with instructions that only the child should read them.A few weeks after the FaceTime call, the Dublin Police Department in Ohio received a report alleging that Christopherson had sexually abused another child in Ohio when the victim was about seven and eight years old.According to court documents, Kristofferson admitted to coercing and luring minors under the age of 10. Prosecutors said he sexually assaulted the child in Utah and another victim in Ohio about 20 times.
What did the FBI find at the house?
As part of the investigation, police searched Christopherson’s home in Dublin, Ohio in November 2025 and seized his electronic devices.The FBI later conducted a forensic examination of his mobile phone. According to prosecutors, investigators found internet searches that included ‘criminal defense attorney sex crimes Columbus Ohio’, ‘priests in Ohio required to report child abuse confessions’, as well as searches related to leaving the country.Christopherson pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor, a federal crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison.