You Can't Hide From The Mormon Church
They Will Find You No Matter Where You Are!
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormons, is portrayed by its PR department as being wholesome and family orientated. The media shows perfect suits, perfect white shirts, perfect white teeth, perfect hairstyles, and perfect welcomes and hugs. After all, the members are 'encouraged' to look and act as the brethren. Meaning look and act as the Prophet and the Apostles of the Church.
However, the secret underbelly of the Church has a much less cuddly side. The fact that the FBI, CIA, and other security forces enlist yearly from Mormon universities and colleges is no accident. In the same way, these same people, upon retirement, then work for "Church Security." Their 'skills' are then also used at the grassroots level. For what, you may ask? Most people may not be aware unless they have served in local and regional leadership positions that discussions behind closed doors with the most dedicated and, therefore, most obedient members relate to finding members who no longer are at Church. Of course, if they are not at Church, they are not paying tithes and offerings, money that is, to the vast vaults of the Mormon church. Mormons do not just let you go. They have an intricate system with an enormous volunteer membership network that ensures you can not hide. Really? Is that true? Surely not.
Following is the plan directed by Mormon leadership to find you; enjoy!
(I have edited parts to make them more readable, removed grammatical errors, etc., and I have some sarcastic comments, apologies).
Local efforts
To find members, visit the last known address:
- If known or available, talk with neighbors, a building supervisor, a manager, or an owner.
- Contact other family currently living at the Member's last known address.
- Contact the new individual or family living there.
- Contact neighbors adjacent to the Member's last known address.
Or use the telephone:
- Call the Member's last known phone number. It may be a cell phone they still have, or the Member may have notified the phone company of their new number.
- Contact known relatives in the area.
- Contact the phone company information service or operator and ask for new phone listings in the area that may not have been published in online phone directories.
Within the ward:
- If the Member was in the ward or area for some time, seek information from other ward members who may know the Member.
Via the postal service:
- Send a letter to the Member's address asking for their new address and expressing your concern for their welfare. In the United States, to find whether the Member has given the United States Postal Service (USPS) a forwarding address, add the words Return Service Requested to the envelope. This instructs the USPS not to forward the mail but return it to the sender with the forwarding address attached [Sneaky!] . . . Postal service practices vary from country to country. For example, some countries prohibit the postal service from disclosing change of address information.
Here are some websites that might be useful for locating lost sheep, along with some comments about each. Note that:
- The Church does not endorse these sites, but other clerks have found them useful.
- Some of these sites may not be accessible from inside your meetinghouse firewall. [You might have to use your personal computer!]
- Much of this information is specific to the United States but may also have applications in other countries.
United States
- Facebook is the most effective way to find someone. There may be many entries, but you can sometimes narrow it down by their friend list, i.e., known family members or friends. Be certain to try searching by the Member's email address as well. If you don't have their email address, try finding it using their address on Melissadata.com below.
- Spokeo is a paid site but one of the most effective and easy to navigate. Search by Name, Address, Username, or email address.
- Melissadata Email Lookup is a free tool to find any associated email addresses by looking up a physical address. Free Registration is Required. After you find the email address, use it to search both Facebook and Spokeo.
- Whitepages.com is great for finding people by their last known address. You can also search by phone number or even locate the contact information for the neighbors to ask them where the Member may have moved.
- Zabasearch is a decent people finder. Most records display the date that data was collected, which can help you track a person from place to place. Many of the records also display a birth month and year. Birthdates can help you identify the correct individual you are seeking. To search for common names, add their age, city, and other details using their advanced search. Finally, search their free Public Database Directory for even more places to go to for searching. There are some good links to government databases here.
- Free411 is a United States phone directory service.
- Intergrascan is a paid service, but the free preliminary results include full addresses.
- CrimCheck offers over 1,000 states, county, city, and federal (court) websites where you can search free public records. Most search services are free.
- Ultimate White Pages congregates several search services on one page, although you must search each individually. It currently offers searches on FastPeopleSearch.com, Anywho.com, Infospace, Dogpile, Whitepages.com, Yahoo, WhoWhere, and Switchboard. When you search more than once, this service reuses the second browser window for the results. It also offers reverse searches on phone numbers and addresses. Results may be dated.
- Ancestry.com offers a U.S. Public Records Index that compiles various public records from all 50 states in the United States from 1984 to the present. Entries may contain the following information: name, street or mailing address, telephone number, birth date, or birth year.
- Birth Database is useful for searching for individuals based on other family members listed on their church membership records. For example, look at sons' names and enter them into this database. Now compare the birth date given on his parent's IOS. This will narrow your search when looking for a John Smith on other popular search sites. This works well for older members who move out and go live with their children.
- Social Security Death Index enables you to search for members who have died using as little as a member's first name. This makes it possible for you to find individuals who have uncommon names, including women who may have changed their names.
- PeopleSmart shows all records in the state provided for a given name, their age, cities they have lived in, and likely family members associated with the person and the address.
- PeekYou correlates data from multiple sources.
- Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is a national index for U.S. District, Bankruptcy, and Appeal courts. If the Member has ever been a plaintiff or a defendant in the United States Courts, this site will show you the details (Examples include Incarceration or Bankruptcy). This is a very reliable method of finding people because, by law, they must provide the courts with accurate contact information. Pacer is also a pay-per-use website, but if your balance is less than $15 at the end of the quarter, they waive the entire balance. Alternatively, you can go to your County's Courthouse to locate county-specific records free of charge. How To Locate a Member's Contact Information With PACER:
- Register for a UserID. Your login information will be mailed to you.
- Login and enter the Member's Last Name, First Name, and Middle Name (or middle initial). If they have a common name, it is recommended that you also select the Region.
- If you did not select the Region, then the results for all States filed will be displayed. You can narrow your search by selecting a Filter or looking in the Court column. The first two letters of each court name represent the state where the filing was made. Find the case most likely to be the Member's, then select the Case Number hyperlink to open the case details.
- Select Party to display the contact information for the Member. It will show the Member's name and address and sometimes their phone number.
Search engines
The usual search engines, Google, MSN, Yahoo, Ask.com, etc., can come in handy. They can help you find the following:
- Obituaries, almost always list a lot of living relatives in their home cities.
- Wedding announcements.
- Newspaper articles about people graduating from a college or university.
- Professional associations. For example, a licensed nurse might be listed on a state's licensing verification website.
State
Voter registration records
In many states, you can check voter registration records online. This method tends to be THE BEST way to find members.
This database intends to ensure that the state has your correct address and see which precinct you are in; it can be used to confirm that John Smith born on 14-Feb-1955, lives/lived at a particular address. When people get a driver's license, they will usually simultaneously register the person to vote, which means the voter registration records will usually match someone's driver's license. However, please note that people are not very good at keeping their driver's license or voter registration record up to date, so it might not be accurate.
If you are not sure if your state has an online system, you can probably go into the voter registration office in your county, and they can look people up for you. If you go in, they often tell you if the person has moved out of state. They might not have their new address, but they usually know which state their record was sent to [Crafty!].
NOTE: If someone has re-married or divorced, their last name will change. You should try alternative last names in the search box, or their names may not appear. Facebook is a good way to determine if someone has changed their name.
Property tax records
A really, really good thing to have is online property tax records. They vary a lot on what you can do with them. Some even let you enter the VIN for a car, and it will show you the progression of owners. This can be used to find a relative since cars are often sold to family members [Wow, very smart!].
Criminal records
Another classification of the website that we hope never does us any good . . . is the sex offender registries and criminal records databases. These are usually done at the state level, but some counties let you look up bookings and releases within the county. Some cities, especially larger ones, do this also.
Utah Divorce Records
Utah Divorce Records searches public records by first and/or last name or browses all divorces in alphabetical order. In addition, it displays the couple's names and the decree date. [As of April 1, 2012, divorce records are no longer public.]
Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PDF)
The annual payment allows Alaskans to share in a portion of the State minerals revenue in the form of a dividend to benefit current and future generations. Search applicant database 2009–2014. Name only.
(The above information can be found on the link below.) https://tech.churchofjesuschrist.org/wiki/Locating_members
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