Mormon missionary sexually abused 14 boys overseas, feds say. Arrest made in PA By Julia Marnin July 25, 2025 8:43 AM
The Sacramento Bee/July 25, 2025
By Julia Marnin
A U.S. man serving as a Mormon missionary sexually abused several boys in Tonga, then returned to the island nation “as a presumably trustworthy teacher” and molested more children, federal prosecutors said.
William James Purdy, 28, of West Valley, Utah, is accused of sexually abusing 14 boys before he fled Tonga as a fugitive in March 2023 and flew to Utah, according to prosecutors.
“Purdy groomed and manipulated these minor victims and their parents. ... Parents trusted him when he was serving as a Mormon missionary, and he took advantage of their goodwill and the fact that he was a member of the church,” prosecutors wrote in court filings.
Information on Purdy’s legal representation was not listed in court records on July 25.
Federal authorities arrested Purdy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 24, the Justice Department said in a news release.
“He lived in remote, geographically isolated island chains that required a full-day boat trip to visit,” prosecutors wrote in the detention motion.
There, he raped four boys, some as young as 8, mostly on “church property,” the filing says.
Purdy groomed children by giving them electronic toys, including a Nintendo Switch, as well as snacks, money and phones, according to prosecutors.
In 2019, he visited Tonga again as a teacher in Nuku’alofa, the Justice Department said.
He groomed and sexually molested multiple students, including some who lived with Purdy, prosecutors said.
While teaching in Tonga, Purdy stayed in different apartments, where he is accused of secretly recording boys in his bathroom, according to prosecutors.
In October 2022, an 8-year-old boy being tutored by Purdy revealed that Purdy was sexually assaulting him, the Justice Department said.
Authorities arrested Purdy and detained him, prosecutors said.
Following his release from jail, he is accused of more sexual assaults against children in Tonga.
Purdy was due in court for a trial in Tonga related to the sex abuse, but he escaped the county under a different identity, prosecutors said.
He stole the identity of a Tongan man, who was mentally disabled, and obtained a passport in his name, according to the motion for his detention. Security footage captured Purdy holding the passport at the Fuaʻamotu International Airport in Tongatapu, Tonga, the filing shows.
In the motion, prosecutors wrote Purdy “preyed upon boys in remote communities, boys who did not have access to the same resources as he did.”
“He chose boys who were unlikely to speak out about this abuse because of their conservative, religious culture and the stigma associated with male-on-male sexual abuse in their community, not to mention the shame normally associated with the disclosure of sexual abuse,” the filing continues.
Charges against Purdy are still pending in Tonga, according to prosecutors, who argue he is a serious danger to the public. Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti, of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement that Purdy “chose to travel abroad under the guise of good intentions and then sexually exploited and abused children who had been trusted to his care.”
“When foreign authorities sought to hold him accountable, he fled back to the United States,” Galeotti added.
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