A Kaitaia businessman who was a Child Youth and Family (CYF) caregiver and Mormon Church elder has admitted child sex offences.
Daniel Taylor, 35, was a church youth worker and a CYF-approved foster parent.
He had denied his offending and was to stand trial on 14 charges of indecent assault against boys aged under 16 and two charges of attempted sexual connection with a boy under 12.
However, in the High Court in Whangarei on Thursday he pleaded guilty to nine charges of sexual offending against children and young people, all of them boys.
Taylor pleaded guilty to indecent assault on a child under 12, five counts of indecent acts on a young person under 16, one attempted unlawful sexual connection with a young person, and two indecent assaults on young people.
Some of the charges are representative, indicating repeated offending.
Police said at least one of the sex offence charges related to a child who was in his care, with CYF approval.
CYF said at the time of Taylor's arrest he had passed all the tests to become a caregiver, and that the charges did not apply to children placed in his care.
Anahera Herbert-Graves, a Kaitaia member of the Mormon Church, claimed church leaders knew of concerns a youth leader was abusing boys and did nothing.
Ms Herbert-Graves said she first told church leaders in 2010 that Taylor had been seen with a boy in a compromising position and later that he'd made a pass at another boy, who had then smashed Taylor's car window. The church leaders did nothing, instead promoting Taylor, she said.
"And when I went back with the second lot of information about this boy who had broken his car window, not long after that he was ... called into a position that allowed him to travel freely into any congregation from Maromaku north," she said.
She was flabbergasted he was made a CYF caregiver and contacted it to ask why he had been approved, she said.
"... they said he had good references and that he had passed all their criteria and that there were no complaints against him."
Ms Herbert-Graves said she went to the police in the end and Taylor was arrested shortly afterwards.
Kaitaia Mormon Church Bishop Stirling Wihongi said the church frowned on abuse and would take action after Taylor was sentenced. However, he would not say what the action would be.
He said he was aware a "couple of kids" in the church were abused by Taylor but that the question of the church being warned about it was before his time.
Taylor will be sentenced on 14 November.
