LAYTON -- Cheryl Maher feels betrayed by authority figures on several levels: by a former boss, a local politician, a Sunday school teacher and a church bishop.
According to Maher, they are all the same man; that being Kevin Garn, the Layton lawmaker who sat naked in a hot tub 25 years ago with Maher when she was 15.
In 2008, Maher tried to get the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the church of her upbringing, to formally act on that betrayal.
"I am not seeking revenge. I am seeking justice and want to stop a man who has a powerful position in life and needs to be stopped before more damage is done," wrote Maher, in a copy of the letter she says she sent to LDS President Thomas S. Monson.
The letter was released to the Standard-Examiner by Maher late Sunday night.
Maher also sent a copy of the letter she received from Brook P. Hales, secretary to the First Presidency, which was a three-sentence response that included "the matter will be given further review."
Maher claims that she received no further word from church officials.
Garn, a longtime Utah House representative, publicly admitted Thursday to the hot-tub incident with Maher, now a 40-year-old New Hampshire resident.
The former majority leader announced on the floor of the House that he had paid $150,000 to Maher during his failed congressional campaign in 2002, and had her sign a confidentiality agreement. Garn, a former LDS bishop, said he hoped the money would help her heal.
On Saturday, Garn, a 55-year-old prominent business owner, resigned from his District 16 seat.
"I sincerely apologize for becoming a distraction to the conclusion of an otherwise remarkable legislative session," Garn wrote in his resignation letter.
Maher said in an e-mail that Garn was her Sunday school teacher when she was in the fourth grade. She later worked for Garn, as a warehouse employee at KSG Distribution, one of Garn's businesses.
Garn maintains there wasn't sexual contact with Maher in the hot tub, nor does Maher detail the incident.
In her letter to the First Presidency in August 2008, she gives details of her troubled life and outlines repeated contact with Garn.
"The 2008 letter sent by Ms. Maher to Church headquarters was referred to local ecclesiastical leaders to be addressed. Church disciplinary matters are handled at a local level and not at Church headquarters," wrote LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter in an e-mail on Monday.
Maher said she has met with church leaders both in Utah and New Hampshire to talk about the incident.
"Legal requirements concerning priest-penitent privilege prevent the Church from talking about the specifics of meetings between members and ecclesiastical leaders," wrote Trotter.
Maher admits the incident haunts her and that she has trouble letting it go. But she did let go of the church and no longer calls herself Mormon.
"I believe the Church holds a great deal of responsibility in this and if the proper accountability would have been given at the times of my reports then all of this could have been avoided," wrote Maher on Saturday in a statement to the press.
Trotter said the LDS Church will continue to follow this matter to determine if any further action is appropriate.
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