2nd woman urged LDS Church to look into Mark Lamb's alleged sexting

They still make her nauseous eight years later.

The mother of seven knew Lamb as her friend and neighbor. He was her daughter's Sunday school teacher, an authority figure in the close-knit San Tan Valley ward of the LDS Church. His wife, Janel, had once thrown a baby shower for her.

Wright said she felt betrayed looking at the nude pictures, including ones of Janel, and reading messages Lamb sent in a group chat encouraging her best friend's husband to sleep around.

"When I first saw the screenshots that Jillian was sharing, I felt like I wanted to run to the bathroom and throw up," she said. "Like it was such a icky feeling."

Jillian Stannard was her friend. They had met at a women's group and shared faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But in 2018, Stannard appeared to be suffering, agonizing over something intensely private.

The story seeped out slowly, but turned into a torrent of information as Stannard opened up. She showed Wright the images and sex chats from her husband's computer. Wright said she didn't really want to see Lamb and others she trusted in such a way.

"I didn't want to know yuck about a man that's been so close in this Mormon world of mine, right?" she said. "But I did because I'm, like, well, I need to have proof. I need to see that there's more than just something that she's saying."

An ongoing investigation by The Arizona Republic found the sheriff invited intimate encounters and indulged a yearslong habit of sexting that he later denied or sought to conceal, sometimes with threats or intimidation. Stannard was one of two women who accused Lamb of trying to quiet them to hide his sexual improprieties.

Lamb is running for a southeast Valley congressional seat on a platform of "faith, family and freedom" with President Donald Trump's endorsement.

Lawyers for Lamb's campaign said in April that many of the claims against him are "baseless and harmful" but offered no specifics. Lamb and his campaign have declined subsequent interview requests.

Sexting claims and racist messages tied to Lamb have emerged as members of Congress, and candidates face calls for greater accountability amid high-profile sex scandals in California, Texas and Maine. Some lawmakers say new rules are needed for handling harassment and abuse claims that surface on Capitol Hill.

Wright said she is coming forward now because Lamb's supporters appear to be targeting Stannard online. They claim her story — along with the photos, messages and group chats she shared — is somehow made up.

"Everybody's trying to say, 'Oh, it's just a political smear. She's not real. The screenshots are AI-generated,'" Wright said. "I couldn't stay silent anymore. I was there with Jillian while this stuff was going on."

She said it feels like Stannard is being victimized again as Lamb tries to dodge responsibility.

"I was her support person in the church. She didn't really have others that were in her corner with the stuff going on," Wright said. "I don't feel like I should sit back and be silent."

But that's what Lamb wanted her to do, she said.

'I have a bone to pick with you'

Wright privately went to LDS Church leaders in 2018 to raise concerns about Lamb. The stake president, who oversees local wards, didn't say much. But she said Lamb did.

He got in her face at church, confronting her as she exited a pew after services one Sunday, she said.

"He kind of stopped me and got really close to me," Wright said. "I just remember feeling very intimidated."

Even without his uniform, badge and signature cowboy hat, Lamb is an imposing figure. At 6 feet, 3 inches tall, he loomed over Wright and told her, "'I have a bone to pick with you,'" she said.

"I didn't know what to say. I'm just like, 'OK, yeah.' And he's like, 'Just know that there's two sides to every story.' And he just kind of walked away."

Wright said the confrontation with Lamb made her uncomfortable, as if she weren't safe.

"If I said anything, then it could come back to me and it could come back to my kids and back to my family. So I better just be quiet."

She wondered, how could Lamb have known? She said she had spoken in confidence to Stake President Dan Oakes. Who told Lamb?

"I almost wish I had said, 'Well, what's your side to the story, then?' Because how do you explain the stuff?" Wright said. "I didn't because he's kind of intimidating. I didn't feel like I wanted to pick the bone with him because that wouldn't have gone very well, right?"

Wright went to Oakes because she was concerned about Lamb's conduct. She said she wanted Lamb and his wife to lose their membership in the church. At the very least, she said, "I wanted to make sure they wouldn't be able to keep holding callings of importance."

Wright also wanted to back up her friend Stannard, who was trying to get church officials to listen to her complaints.

Oakes lived in the same neighborhood as Lamb and Wright. He is a licensed counselor and a certified sex addiction therapist. He is running for a seat on the first San Tan Valley Town Council. He previously declined to comment on Lamb and Stannard.

Text messages obtained by The Republic show Oakes promised Stannard that church leaders would take action on Lamb before backing off. They told Stannard they wanted Lamb and his wife to come forward on their own.

Women describe similar conduct from Lamb

Wright's description of Lamb's approach at church mirrored what Stannard said the sheriff did to her after she reported his conduct to LDS Church leaders.

She said Lamb got in her face and tried to bully her into silence during a community event in January 2018.

"He approached me, pointed in my face and firmly said, 'I have a bone to pick with you,'" Stannard told The Republic. "He leaned forward in a more threatening stance and said it again."

Stannard later sent him a message on Facebook asking why he got in her face. Screenshots show Lamb replied Jan. 21, 2018, telling Stannard whatever she and her husband "are dealing with has collateral damage." Stannard took it as a threat.

She asked Lamb directly about nude pictures and videos of Janel the sheriff sent to her husband, screenshots of the Facebook messages show. Lamb replied: "You can call me for any questions you have," screenshots show.

Stannard said her husband confessed to sexual affairs with Janel Lamb and others. It led to their divorce. Stannard, who was devout, wanted church leaders to punish the Lambs for violating the key tenets of faith and family, she said.

Another woman who said she was intimate with Lamb alleged he threatened to have her charged with revenge porn if she did not stop posting about their relationship. She shared screenshots of the threat exchange.

Tammy Peacock, who died in a 2021 traffic accident, also took her complaints about Lamb to the church, which ultimately assigned a high-ranking elder to investigate the claims against Lamb and his wife.

Lamb described Peacock as crazy in his 2020 political memoir, "American Sheriff: Traditional Values in a Modern World.” Peacock was addicted to drugs and alcohol. Screenshots she posted showed sexually charged messages and photos of Lamb along with plans to meet up.

Wright said she accompanied Stannard to meetings with the church elder, where she also met Peacock. She described Peacock as brave for coming forward.

"I wouldn't say I would have had any reason to doubt anything that she said," Wright said. "She seemed very personable, very sincere that she wanted to have what was going on shared and known."

It is unclear what, if any, action the church took against Lamb. A spokesperson for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declined comment.

Lamb downplays racist messages, silent on sexting claims

Lamb has remained silent on the sexting and threat allegations.

Among the images women said Lamb shared both in messages and in person: close-up pictures of a penis and an unidentified couple having intercourse.

Other messages from 2016 showed Lamb, through his sheriff's campaign account, laughed and made a racist joke when a border extremist used the N-word. His campaign tried to downplay the racist messages.

A campaign spokesperson who did not respond to interview requests from The Republic told FOX 10 News the story was "based on a 10-year-old text from a person that couldn't be located, or might not be a real person."

William Hubbard, a former Lamb campaign staffer, supplied The Republic with the direct messages from the sheriff's social media accounts at the time.

Lamb joked in messages that Black people were lazy and laughed at homophobic and misogynistic remarks. He has not denied making the comments.

Hubbard, who is Black, said Lamb apologized to him shortly after he sent the messages. Lamb called the exchange "inappropriate," Hubbard said.

'You just need to know who he is'

Wright said she is mad at herself for helping to put Lamb in office. She signed a petition when supporters went door-to-door for him when he first campaigned for sheriff. She said she believed in his message.

She now views his family values message as a convenient facade. Lamb has cloaked himself in the church to promote his congressional campaign, she said.

"I think that's what disgusts me the most," Wright said. "San Tan Valley and Queen Creek is very LDS. And they (church members) just think because he is, that he's trustworthy."

She said that is how she felt when she supported him years ago.

"This was a member of our church, a member of our ward trying to get on the ballot," Wright said of Lamb's 2016 campaign. "I signed it, my husband signed it. I think my mother signed it. And then, to find out that he was nothing of what he was representing, was sickening to me."

Lamb's public image of the "good Mormon boy" is not to be believed, Wright said.

"I would love to vote for somebody that stands for faith, family, freedom and actually lives it. Mark doesn't," she said. "I don't care if you vote for Lamb, you just need to know who he is, if you're choosing to vote for him, right?"

In a May 28 Facebook post, Lamb's wife, Janel, said she and her husband were being subjected to a "massive smear campaign."

Wright said she sees the post as a distraction, a way for the Lambs to save face. She said she has a question for them: "What about the marriage you destroyed?"