Financial lawsuit is filed against Jeffs
 Documents accuse the fugitive of years of thefts
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
 
A new lawsuit has been filed against fugitive Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs. This time he's being sued by the man who was appointed to oversee Jeffs' financial empire in the polygamous border towns of Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz.

Bruce Wisan, the court-appointed special fiduciary overseeing the United Effort Plan Trust, filed a lawsuit in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court late Friday, accusing Jeffs and former members of the UEP's Board of Trustees of fleecing the FLDS Church's financial arm for years. Jeffs is currently facing charges in several venues related to his polygamous lifestyle and has been named to the FBI's Most Wanted list.

"We feel that they've taken things from the trust, their actions have caused harm to the trust," Wisan told the Deseret Morning News. "We want to pursue remedies for the actions that they've taken."

The UEP Trust controls homes, businesses and property within Hildale and Colorado City. It has assets estimated at more than $110 million. The lawsuit accuses Jeffs and the former UEP trustees of misappropriating property, money, livestock, businesses and services that were donated to the trust.

In 2005, a judge froze the assets of the UEP, suspended Jeffs and his trustees and appointed Wisan to take over.

"After the suspension of the Trustees, the FLDS Church and the suspended Trustees sought to sabotage the efforts of the Fiduciary," the lawsuit states. It alleges that Jeffs and the FLDS Church ordered people on UEP land not to talk to Wisan, to ignore his requests and refuse to answer his questions.

Wisan has been serving property tax notices in Hildale and Colorado City, urging people to pay their property taxes or face the possibility of eviction. Jeffs has reportedly told his followers to "answer them nothing."

Jeffs and the original UEP Trustees are also accused of ignoring several lawsuits filed by former followers.

Wisan said he filed the lawsuit because the statute of limitations would have expired today. It is getting support by people who may eventually become the new trustees of the UEP.

"We felt that in order to protect people's homes that we go after the assets that have been fleeced out of the trust," said ex-FLDS member Carolyn Jessop. "We don't want to see things taken and squandered. We don't want the things we worked our lives for to go into a criminal's hands."

Warren Jeffs faces criminal charges in Utah and Arizona, accusing him of forcing teenage girls into polygamous marriages with older men. A $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to his arrest.

Tracking down people to serve them with papers may be tough, but Wisan said he believes they will be able to do it.

"Basically, I think we know where everybody is but Warren," he said Friday.

The lawsuit names Jeffs and former trustees Truman Barlow, Leroy Jeffs, James Zitting, William Jessop, the Corporation of the President and the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Fundamentalist LDS Church.

Recently, the FLDS Church's former lawyer Rod Parker withdrew as the registered agent for the FLDS corporations. William Timpson Jessop was listed as the registered agent and the address of the corporations belongs to Lyle Jeffs, one of Warren Jeffs' brothers. However, Wisan said he did not believe Jessop is in Hildale.

"We believe he is Pringle, South Dakota," he said. The FLDS Church has an enclave that was recently discovered in the Black Hills.

Should Wisan win his lawsuit, he may look to recover lost assets at another FLDS compound, located in Eldorado, Texas. The polygamous group has a temple there. Wisan said if there is a judgment in his favor, he may ask the Schleicher County sheriff to go onto the Texas compound and seize assets.

"There are assets in Eldorado that we feel belong to the UEP Trust," Wisan said. "I don't think it would be difficult to enforce a judgment. The difficulty is getting a judgment and tracking the assets and tracing the money."

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Saturday, May 27, 2006
 
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