Trial delayed for ex-LDS official

ST. GEORGE — A trial for an excommunicated general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been continued.

Washington County prosecutors said Monday that a bench trial for George Patrick Lee, 64, on a class A misdemeanor charge of failure to register as a sex offender has been delayed, with no future date set.

"Apparently the defense requested a continuance," said deputy Washington County Attorney Brian Filter, adding that it was because of a health issue involving Lee.

Lee was arrested earlier this year by Washington County Sheriff's deputies for failing to update his information on Utah's Sex Offender Registry since 2001. Lee had been convicted of attempted sex abuse of a child in 1994 and sentenced to 18 months' probation.

In 1989, Lee was a member of the LDS Church's First Quorum of the Seventy when he was excommunicated for what the church said was "apostasy and other conduct unbecoming a member of the church."