Battle Breaks Out Over FLDS Empire
 
John Hollenhorst Reporting
KSL-TV Channel 5
 
Fugitive polygamist leader Warren Jeffs may be gone, whereabouts unknown, but he's not forgotten. In fact, a huge legal battle has broken out over the $100-million dollar empire he once controlled and then walked away from. Tomorrow a judge will be asked to make some very tough choices.

In the polygamist community of Hildale and Colorado City thousands of people live in homes they don't actually own. The real estate is owned by the United Effort Plan Trust, an arm of the FLDS Church run by Warren Jeffs. But the problem is, the community is not united. It's split into factions, splintered in bitter rivalry, especially since Warren Jeffs took power.

Carl Holm, Former FLDS Member: "There's people in that that are loyal to Warren Jeffs and people that are not, people that are just trying to get by and live their lives."

With Jeffs now a fugitive, the courts will likely appoint trustees to make such decisions as who gets to live in the houses. But various factions can't agree on dozens of nominated trustees.

Tim Bodily, Assistant Attorney General: "Well there's no question there are some differences in religious beliefs at some level. And certainly there are substantial differences as to how the property should be administered and managed and who should live on it or not. And that is very bitter at some level."

Roger Hoole represents the so-called Lost Boys, kicked out as teenagers by Jeffs. He's proposed a slate of trustees representing several factions.

Roger Hoole, Attorney for 'Lost Boys': "And I think those tensions can be resolved by reaching out and bringing in as many of them as possible."

But a key issue is whether trustees should include people illegally practicing polygamy.

Tim Bodily: "We're going to leave that to the court. I don't think we can deny the fact that most of the people living in the homes are probably practicing polygamy. And that's part of their religion."

The lightning rod is proposed trustee Winston Blackmore who reportedly has more than two dozen wives and 100 kids. Once a top lieutenant in the Canada branch of the church, ousted by Jeffs, Blackmore is loved by many and distrusted by others.

Carl Holm: "He's actually trying to pick up where Warren left off and start his own deal. And I know his activities right now. He's still marrying underage girls to men."

Others say a well-balanced board of trustees must include polygamists.

Roger Hoole: "We will be objecting to those proposed trustees who are known anti-polygamy activists because they just don't relate well to the people who live in Hildale and Colorado City."

Some say Jeffs himself bears the blame for the legal mess by sowing a legacy of bitter division and then running away and abandoning the trust that controls so many lives. The court will take up the issue tomorrow, but some of the lawyers plan to ask for more time to sort it all out.
 
KSL.com
Originally broadcast August 3, 2005
 
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