| Ex-FLDS members now serving up tax notices After getting kicked out by Jeffs, they're helping government collect | |
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News | |
HILDALE — Isaac Wyler bounds out of the pickup truck after pulling into the red dirt driveway of a home here. A polygamist family sitting on the lawn looks up with a mixture of surprise and fear on their faces. Women in prairie dresses get up and start rushing the children toward the house. "Hurry! Hurry!" one woman shouts to the children, who race inside. "I'm not gonna chase ya," Wyler shouts to them as he quickens his pace toward a man standing nearby. The man darts down some stairs, shutting a door. "Show some guts!" Wyler shouts after him. "Take yer papers!" He walks up to one of the doors of this stately home and begins knocking on the doors. The children can be heard screaming and crying inside the home. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Wyler knocks three times on each door before calling it good. Then he takes out a roll of white masking tape and starts posting property tax notices on each door around the home. Behind him, colleague Andrew Chatwin videotapes the entire thing. The polygamous border towns of Hildale and Colorado City have become cities under siege. Their de facto ruler, Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs, is a fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list with a $100,000 bounty for information leading to his arrest. He's facing criminal charges in Utah and Arizona, accusing him of forcing teenage girls into polygamist marriages with older men. Utah's attorney general has told the Deseret Morning News he's investigating Jeffs for organized crime. A judge in Utah has taken control of the FLDS Church's United Effort Plan (UEP) Trust, which controls property, homes and businesses in these towns. The estimated $110 million in assets is now controlled by a court-appointed special fiduciary, Bruce Wisan. In an attempt to get people within the polygamist community to pay their property taxes, Wisan has hired Wyler, Chatwin and Jethrow Barlow, all former FLDS members, to help serve notices on some of the most prominent people within the church. "It takes a little creativity, and it takes ability to put up with rejection," Wisan said. "And the ability to deal with the local police." On a hot May afternoon, the two men served notices on 11 homes in Hildale and Colorado City to pay their property taxes or face the possibility of eviction. Of the dozens of people served so far, most have paid — including a home on Warren Jeffs' own compound. Among those being served: Colorado City Town Councilman Donald Richter, members of the Twin City Power board and former Hildale police officer Rodney Holm, who was convicted of bigamy and unlawful sex with a 16-year-old who was his third wife. 'It's Warren' It is not an easy task. People run inside, douse the lights, cover the windows and hide whenever Wyler or Chatwin pulls up. At one home, an elderly woman sprinted from her flower garden into the house as Wyler tried to hand her the papers. "They think it's like the 1953 raid," Chatwin said, referring to the infamous raid where dozens of polygamist men in these towns were rounded up and put in jail. Isaac Wyler was booted out of the FLDS Church on January 10, 2004, with about 20 other men. He was never told why, although Jeffs claimed they were "sinners." Wyler's wife and four kids eventually left him. "She was told to leave me by Warren, but she didn't do it," he said as he taped up notices on a door. "She basically left me when I started fighting Warren because her family still believes in him." Wyler said his elderly father-in-law continues to hand over his entire Social Security check to Warren Jeffs "in the hope that he can get his wives and children and home back." Despite being a fugitive, Jeffs exerts a great deal of control over these towns. Jeffs has reportedly told his followers not to pay the taxes. As he rounded the corner of a house being served, Wyler stopped. "You hear that?" he whispered excitedly. "It's Warren!" Coming out of an open window were the sounds of a tape recording of the polygamist prophet talking about "disobedient dissidents." "They were a very disobedient people," Jeffs said in his trademark hypnotic monotone voice. Andrew Chatwin is one of the original "Lost Boys," kicked out of the FLDS Church nearly nine years ago for some unnamed "sin." He claims he was driven out by Warren Jeffs, who was his church history and math teacher growing up. He returned a year-and-a-half ago with his wife, Michelle, signing an occupancy agreement on his family home. He and Wyler are paying their property taxes. As Chatwin videotapes, he points out the places he helped build as part of the FLDS Church's "Saturday work projects," where dozens of men get together and perform tasks. "It's poetic justice," he laughs at the irony of helping serve tax notices on the properties. "If that makes any sense." 'God Squad' Typically, Wyler requires Hildale and Colorado City town marshals to stand by as he serves the papers, much to their chagrin. On this day, the officers were nowhere to be found. Still, Wyler and Chatwin are not alone as they make their rounds. They have the "God Squad" to keep them company. The FLDS Church's security force follows outsiders around in pickup trucks and SUVs with windows tinted black. They don't seem to scare Wyler or Chatwin. "Just an FLDS goon," Chatwin said. "Thugs out doing Warren's work." After being followed for a half-dozen houses, Wyler finally walks up to one truck and starts talking to the men inside. He jokes with them and then recognizes one of the people he's supposed to serve with papers lying down in the back seat. "Sorry about this, but it needs to be done," he said as he tossed papers in the truck. Jeremiah Barlow just got served. As Wyler climbs back in his truck, he motions to the red rock cliffs and shouts to the God Squad: "Hey! We're headed this way!" A man inside the truck with the tinted windows sticks his head out the window and jokes back. "Where ya headed to? I'll just meet you there!" he laughs. It seems everybody has a job to do. Wyler's is to serve, the God Squad's is to follow. Wyler doesn't make much serving Wisan's papers. He's paid per house but says it's enough to cover fuel costs. "Isaac has refused payment for months and was doing this gratis," Wisan said. "It was hurting his business. I felt compelled and had to force him to accept payment." Wyler and Chatwin say it's their donation to the UEP. Wisan next plans to serve all the homes in Hildale and Colorado City. "If I have to post every house in the community, I guess I will," Wisan said. "I'm not going to do it in 10s and 12s and 13s. I'm going to have Isaac do it every day, FLDS, ex-FLDS, everything. This whole block, that whole block." Wyler and Chatwin are prepared and add they have no plans to leave such hostile terrain. "It's our hometown. We're taking our town back," Wyler said. "We built the town. He (Warren Jeffs) didn't do nothing. Why should he live here? He never done no work here at all, and we worked on darn near every house in town! He's the one trying to kick everyone out." E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com | |
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deseretnews.com Originally published Saturday, May 20, 2006 | |
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