Church leaders checked computer of man facing molestation charges

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003 | 11 a.m.

Mormon Church leaders looked through the personal computer of a church member who faces child molestation charges to see if their own children were victims, a church spokesman said this morning.

But police are investigating whether anyone tampered with the computer evidence in the case against Robert Stevenson, a former substitute teacher and Boy Scout leader who is charged with sexually assaulting two young boys.

John Hanks, a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the church leaders were visiting Stevenson's wife because of the molestation allegations when they decided to look at the computers.

"It wasn't an official trip to go look at the computer," Hanks said. "It was almost an afterthought ... They did it out of concern their own children were involved."

Hanks would not say who from the church looked at the computer, and he said he did not know when those people looked at it.

But Hanks said "nothing was deleted or altered."

"They did not have an impact on the investigation," Hanks said.

Metro Police Lt. Jeff Carlson said investigators confiscated computers from Stevenson soon after his July 16 arrest. Now they are checking to see if anyone tampered with any evidence, if there was any computer evidence, he said.

"We're looking to see if anything was altered or changed any evidence," Carlson said.

Carlson said investigators can usually tell if something has been erased from computer files.

Stevenson, 33, is charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old family member and 8-year-old family friend.

Police have said Stevenson admitted to molesting the 8-year-old boy when he slept over at his Henderson home with Stevenson's son. Stevenson, a former substitute teacher at John Bass Elementary School, referred to the contact with the boy as "cuddling," a Metro detective told a grand jury.

The grand jury indicted Stevenson on two counts of sexual assault, six counts of lewdness and two counts of attempted sexual assault.

Stevenson is scheduled to be in court Oct. 28 for a hearing to set a trial date. He is free on $50,000 bail while awaiting his trial, according to court records.