U.S. Department of Justice unseals indictment against a West Valley City man who allegedly fled Tonga ahead of a trial in 2023.
(Sarah Silbiger | pool via AP) A sign for the Department of Justice. The agency announced the indictment of a West Valley City man, accused of abusing minors in Tonga during his term as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and when he returned to teach there.
A former missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faces federal charges for allegedly sexually abusing minors in Tonga — accused of luring minors as young as 8 years old with video games and remote-controlled cars, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Court documents show the man, William James Purdy, 28, of West Valley City, still has an outstanding warrant from 2023, when he fled Tonga ahead of a scheduled trial.
A federal grand jury indicted Purdy on July 16, and he was arrested Thursday in Pennsylvania, where he was attending law school, according to court documents.
A U.S. magistrate judge Thursday ordered that Purdy be transferred to Utah to be charged.
A public defender in Pennsylvania assigned to Purdy’s case did not immediately return a request for comment.
Court documents say Purdy faces two federal charges: alleged sexual exploitation of children and traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
While in Tonga as a missionary from 2017 to 2018, court documents say, Purdy sexually abused four boys as young as 8 years old, largely “on church property.”
Court documents say he “bought the kids anything they wanted” and “offered cash and cellphones in exchange for sexual acts.” Court documents also say he didn’t spend any time with adults throughout his mission.
In late 2019, a year after his mission service ended, Purdy returned to Tonga to teach at a school in Nuku’alofa, where he is accused of sexually abusing several minors — including three he had known while he was a missionary, court documents say. In total, U.S. and Tongan law enforcement have identified 14 minors who were allegedly abused, court documents say.
Some of the boys he abused lived with him, court documents say, after he “promised to take care of them and their education.” In reality, the documents say, “he was regularly abusing these boys” by letting them live with him and giving them gifts in exchange for sexual acts.
Court documents also allege Purdy recorded minors in his apartment bathroom without their knowledge. When law enforcement seized his laptop in August 2023, court documents say, authorities found about 175 images captured in this way in various apartments across Tonga.
Purdy was arrested in Tonga in 2022 after an 8-year-old boy reported that Purdy had abused him, court documents say.
Mothers of other victims defended Purdy, according to court documents. “He had fooled these mothers for years into believing he was a trustworthy caretaker of their sons,” court documents say.
Purdy was granted pretrial release from custody in Tonga, and court documents say his passport was taken, but he continued abusing minors and tried to book flights to the United States before his trial.
After being denied several requests to leave the country, court documents say, he used his own photograph and “the name of a mentally disabled Tongan man” to successfully get a Tongan passport. He then used that passport to travel to Fiji on March 30, 2023, less than a month before his trial date, according to court documents.
From Fiji, court documents say, he received an emergency replacement U.S. passport and returned to Utah, where “he pressed the U.S. Embassy to provide” a student visa to one of the minors he had abused so they “could live with Purdy and attend school in Utah.”