| Attorney general reassures Hildale of Utah's motives | |
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By Patrice St. Germain patrices@thespectrum.com | |
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said residents of Hildale don't need to be afraid about a court motion granted last Friday that appoints a special fiduciary and suspends the trustees of the United Effort Plan. Shurtleff said the action his office took last week against the UEP trustees is to protect church members' interests and the state is not seizing property. "There are private parties that have sued the trust and the trustees have not come forward and the lawsuits have gone into default," Shurtleff said. "We are stepping up to protect the interests of the beneficiaries because Warren Jeffs has not." Along with Jeffs, other UEP trustees include Leroy Jeffs, Winston Blackmore, James Zitting, Truman Barlow and William E. Jessop, a.k.a. William E. Timpson. The UEP was formed in the 1940s and members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints contributed to the fund in exchange to become tenants at-will on church-owned property by church authority. Shurtleff said no one knows for sure what the assets of the UEP are, but it has been estimated to be between $100 million and $200 million. Although there are several trustees listed for the UEP, Shurtleff said several have been excommunicated from the FLDS church. Right now, none of the trustees have been removed until they have their day in court, but they have no authority to conduct any business in behalf of the trust. Tracking the assets will be a complex paper trail because much money has been spent. Also, Shurtleff said his office believes that not only have large amounts of money been spent out of the trust but that there have been potentially fraudulent transfers of land and businesses from the trust to Warren Jeffs. "This will be the toughest job the special fiduciary will every face," Shurtleff said. "Right now, we are protecting the FLDS Church and the homes the member live in. There is a real possibility of homes being lost if we didn't freeze the assets." Although the court action took place last Friday, over the weekend the Cozy Log Homes manufacturing building, which was located on state Route 59 coming into Hildale, was dismantled and moved. The land where the 18,000 square foot building once stood is under Rulon T. Jeffs' name as trustee for the United Effort Plan. The building was moved about two blocks away to a lot in the Hildale Industrial Park, which is owned by the city. Dismantling and moving the building is a violation of the court motion. Under state records, the registering agent for Cozy Log Homes is ATI Construction Inc. The registering agent for ATI is Kelly Fischer. Attempts to reach Fischer were unsuccessful. Several months ago, Cozy Log Homes made a proposal to the Mesquite City Council to locate a manufacturing plant in the city. Mesquite City Manager Bryan Montgomery said the proposal made by Fischer was not financially advantageous for the city so the council denied it. "We were approached again 10 days ago with a different proposal but they (Cozy Log Homes) weren't offering enough." Shurtleff said the court motion does give the trustees the opportunity to come forward to explain why they are not in breech of their duties. If the trustees do not come forward, the court would appoint new trustees to protect the beneficiaries. Shurtleff said all beneficial members of the FLDS church have the right to be heard by the court or appointed as a trustees. As far as the dismantling of the 18,000-square-foot Cozy Log Homes building, Shurtleff said it goes against the court motion. "Hopefully word gets out that if they do that or that any selling or transferring of ownership of church property is contempt of court," Shurtleff said. | |
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TheSpectrum.com Originally published June 4, 2005 | |
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