A mother, who claims her son was sexually assaulted at a Mormon ward house in Methuen, Mass., has filed a lawsuit against the LDS church. She says the church allowed a sexual predator, Kevin Curlew, to work as a church baby sitter even though he had a criminal record for sexual abuse.

When the mother told ward officials of the incident in 2005, the suit says, they did not report it immediately, but "attempted to silence the mother in order to avoid bad publicity." Police detectives also complained of the ward's reluctance to cooperate with the investigation.

The mother, whose name is not being released to protect the son's identity, says:

I brought this action only after it became came clear that the Church's concern was not with my son's welfare, but with protecting themselves from bad publicity.I was horrified that after I told the Church officials about the abuse, they still allowed the perpetrator free reign at the Church, and my son was terrified.

Curlew confessed to the assault and has been sentenced to nine to ten years. In the course of the investigation, the Methuen police also arrested another ward volunteer, Peter Paquette, for failing to register as a sex offender. But detectives complained it was two weeks after Curlew's arrest before the Church allowed them access to its member list.